


Do It Yourself

by Potkanka



Category: Tomb Raider (Video Game)
Genre: (so much swearing), Casual Violence, Character Development, Fear of Heights, Humor, I'm not sure if I should call this crack or not, Kid hijacked lots of scenes I dunno it just happened, Kold is actually the second smartest one after Natla, M/M, Swearing, Villain Protagonists, but you gotta wait for it, full names for those who don't have them (inspired by but not copied from TR:A), original timeline, sad backstories for some, they're a bunch of assholes but I'll force them to care for each other just you wait, you just wouldn't guess over the bloodthirstiness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2018-09-26 02:58:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 32,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9859058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potkanka/pseuds/Potkanka
Summary: When you want something done right - or when you fear hiring Lara Croft would only bring more trouble - do it yourself. And that's how Jacqueline Natla finds herself and her five henchmen in front of massive stone doors in the Peruvian mountains. The Scion will be hers. As long as they don't kill each other first, that is.





	1. Caves

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this on the spur of the moment and can't promise fast updates, but the first chapter is long done so I decided to share that one at least. I'm still debating whether to introduce Lara herself into the story later, but the focus is definitely on Natla and her gang, their relationships as they're forced to spend more time together than they ever thought while avoiding deadly traps and doing dumb shit. Yeah, doing dumb shit is actually the majority of what's happening there.

“I don't think this was a very good idea,” a calm male voice speaks up through the mountain winds and dancing snowflakes. A group of six people, five male and one female, stays silent for a moment, as if wanting to agree but not wishing to admit they might have bitten off more than they can chew.

“It's not your job to think,” the only woman present speaks at length and glares at the cowboy, then turns the glare at the rest and dares anyone to raise another objection.

“Yeah but that fucking cold-” the youngest of them, a boy in his late teens with red hair and freckled nose whines and hugs himself tightly. It's not his boss that snaps at him though, instead the biggest and broadest of them, a man with a bald head and dark skin sharply contrasting with the omnipresent snow, takes a snarling step forward and fingers his huge combat knife: “What the hell did you just say shitstain? You wanna die?”

“Not fucking you, Kold,” the boy growls and furrows his brows, “but the cold! The fucking cold! I'm freezing!”

“You got a problem with me, Kid?” Kold takes another step, the knife glinting menacingly in his hand.

“Oh my fucking god!” Kid rolls his eyes but takes a cautious step back. “I'm saying-”

“I heard you the first time, you co-”

“Both of you, stop it!” Their boss barks at them. Her three other henchmen watch the performance as if it were an everyday occurrence. Which it probably is.

Kold and Kid freeze where they stand – Kid a little more literally, judging by his lips slowly turning blue – and when it's reasonably certain they won't try to kill each other as long as Kid keeps his mouth shut (so not for long), the woman turns to a heavily dressed duo huddled together, sharing vital heat.

“Pierre, climb up there to see if there's any way to open the doors.”

“But madame,” Pierre tries politely after working his frozen mouth to a usable state, “you know I can't stand heights since Rome. Climbing all the way up-” he stops at the sight of her withering stare and feels his partner hug him tighter.

“Hey hey,” Kid makes himself heard again because _of course_ he can't stay silent for a few seconds even in this cold, unlike the other blabbermouth of the group who is yet to make a sound besides rattling teeth. “Hey, Frenchie,” the teenager is grinning, “if you don't like climbing, just let Kold throw you up there like a fucking baseball, won't even have time shit your pants!” He's openly cackling now so he doesn't see the calculating stare several members of the group are suddenly giving him.

“I don't doubt Kold's strength,” their boss says, “but the doors are very high. A lighter load would be preferable.”

The boy's mouth shuts with a snap. Their boss doesn't usually join their banter. Did something happen to her or- “Oh... no, nonono...” She actually means it; he pales and backs away, mindful of the edge of the cliff.

“Kold, do it,” she orders impatiently.

“Fuck no!” Kid tries to scramble off again, screeching. “Let the Frenchie piss himself, who cares?!” He avoids the pile they made of their luggage when they arrived and jumps up a boulder, only to slip at its snow-covered surface. Kold is right at him but Kid uses his comparatively short and slender stature to slip away between the bigger man's legs. “It's all this fucker's fault, he gutted the fucking guide, maybe he knew how to open ughwaaah!” he screeches as he feels huge hands grab him, hopelessly wiggling in Kold's grasp who is having the time of his life: “Good thing I did then, or I wouldn't get to do _this_!”

The high-pitched shriek scares what few animals are hiding in the white slopes around and only Kid's reflexes make him latch himself onto the upper frame of the doors instead of splatting on the wall like a fly on a windshield.

“I'm fucking gonna kill you I fucking hate you I hate you all!” he panics and scrambles on the carved stone to get to a more stable position.

“Boss, please remind me again why you couldn't just hire that Croft woman?” the cowboy inquires with a soft sigh as the five on the ground crane their necks to watch Kid's progress.

“The same reason Pierre is scared of heights now,” the boss answers levelly but there's an undercurrent of both amusement and frustration in that quirk of her lips. “She's more trouble than she's worth,” – Pierre's companion moves his hand surreptitiously to cover his crotch – “and she might not part willingly with what she finds, as per her background check.” Pierre nods vigorously in agreement, nearly smothering his partner in his arms who returns it with just as much strength.

“Then what about someone else?”

“There's no-one else good enough,” comes the final answer that makes the rest wonder what it means about _them_ but wisely decide to keep silent.

“So that means we're fucked!” Kid shouts from his unstable perch. Well, no-one ever considered him wise.

“If you have time to listen to our conversation, then you might try to solve our current predicament, oui?” Pierre calls at him, feet reassuringly on the ground and face turning slightly green whenever it looks like Kid might slip and fall, though not out of worry for the boy's safety.

“Go fuck yourse- wah!” Kid loses balance as one of the stones he leans onto moves and slides back into the wall. His grip loosens and he slides down, only to catch himself on a narrow, moving slab of stone. He blinks down to realize he's lying on the top of the right door as both halves swing silently open.

“Fuck yeah I did it! Beat this, fuckers! What did your freezing asses do, huh? Huh??? You'd be fucked without me!”

The background noise that is his voice is easily tuned out by the rest so they can hear the growling coming from the darkness beyond the door. The woman takes herself out of the way with a few measured steps. “Deal with them,” she orders.

“Aww yeah!” Kold jumps into the shadows where the growls soon turn into pained whimpers. Two wolves manage to run out, just to be met with the business end of the cowboy's revolver. It only takes a few shots; they don't stand a chance.

“W-would've done that quicker than him,” the last member of the group finally pipes out through chattering teeth.

“Of course you would, Larson,” Pierre rubs his arm in a half-hug.

The cowboy rolls his eyes as he watches them. “Then you should've. It's your fault you caught cold playing in the snow with Kid.”

“Pansy-ass can't stand shit!” Kid crows with laughter up above them. “Oh, hey, how'm I gonna get down?”

Larson disentangles from Pierre's arms, sneezes two times, grabs a handful of snow and hits Kid square in the face, making him fall down with a surprised yelp. “Aww yeah I still got it! Whaddaya say now, ya-” another sneeze wrecks through Larson's body and Pierre pulls him close to himself again. “Now now, let's wait until we are somewhere warmer, oui?”

Kid digs himself up from a pile of snow and wolf carcasses, a fresh bruise blooming on his right cheek. “I'm fucking gonna kill him!” he growls, the wolf blood on his clothes almost making him look intimidating. Almost.

“Save it for later,” his boss' curt tone cuts him off. “We're in. Good work.”

“Oh!” Kid lights up like a Christmas tree. A praise from the boss is a rare thing. “Yeah, well, ya know, no problem, right?” he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, still grinning.

Everyone quickly goes to grab their bags, Kold carrying their boss' luggage as well. She herself is already moving toward the dark corridor.

“Miss Natla?” Pierre follows his boss through the door, pulling Larson along, with the rest of the group on their heels. “Is there any information we have beyond this point?”

The six of them enter the wide tunnel carved into the mountainside, the doors shutting behind them with resonating finality.

“Other than Qualopec's Scion Piece waiting for us up ahead?” Natla smirks. “Absolutely none.”

 

* * *

 

“Fuck yeah! We did it!” Kid whoops, both fists punching the air, and then falls on his back with a relieved sigh.

“Ya crawled like a damn worm the whole time,” Larson feels the need to add.

“So fucking what?” Kid lifts his head to look at the other man, “At least I moved, unlike fucking someone.”

“Ha, ya jealous? Though luck man, not sharing.”

“Yes, well, that is nice to know, but I'm afraid I won't be able to carry you any further,” Pierre says, a little breathless from the breakneck run, and shifts his arms where he is steadying Larson on his back.

“Aww, okay,” Larson almost pouts but slides to the ground. At least it seems he is doing better now that he isn't exposed to the harsh mountain winds.

“It's a lil' too soon for celebration,” the cowboy peers at Kid from behind Kold's enormous back where he is hiding to avoid the long and sharp projectiles as they walk. The big man is slapping the darts away with his bare hand like annoying flies while his other arm is bent in front of his body, serving as a seat for Natla. Or maybe a throne, with the way she is sitting there one leg thrown over the other.

“Shut up Cowboy, I'm beat! Let me fucking enjoy this!” Kid growls and lets his head fall back on the snow-covered ground.

Cowboy, Kold and Natla finally make it to the other side of the dart trap field. Natla looks backwards at the doors, still visible in the dim light.

“We hardly began, get your act together,” she orders as her feet touch the ground and she smooths her skirt.

“You mean there will be worse shit than this fuckery?” Kid pales under his freckles, reluctantly getting off the ground. “Hah, well, bigger chance for someone to snuff it,” he doesn't even try to pretend he's _not_ glaring at Kold.

“Careful what you wish for,” the cowboy mumbles and glances around for any more traps, hands on his guns in case more wolves appear.

Natla takes the lead. The look she is giving them is considering, internally debating whether it would be better for her peace of mind if some of them did die right here and now. But none of them pay her attention, too busy watching Kold pull one of the darts out of his side as if he's just noticed it and lazily throw it over his shoulder.

“Fucking hate that guy,” Kid shudders.

 

* * *

 

“Die you vermin! Damn sonuvabitch! Die!”

Kid is once again lying on his back, laughing so much he can hardly see over his tears. Which is a shame because he really wants to see every moment of this glorious performance.

“Filthy scum!”

Larson takes aim with his laser sight, sneezes once, takes aim again and with one precision shot guns down his second bat.

“Die you little shits!”

Cowboy aims longer, waiting for the right moment, and on a second try shoots another bat.

“You – damn – fucking –“

Pierre takes several shots in the approximate direction of the bats and his twin magnums eventually hit the targets.

“BASTARDS! DIIIIIE!” Kold screams even louder than before, fuming with fury, as three little bats circle his head and scratch his skin, avoiding all and every sweep of the man's knife.

Kid is more likely to die than the bats at this point, if only for the lack of oxygen. Honestly, right now, he wouldn't even mind.

 

* * *

 

“Help me up, help me up!” Kid screams from far below, mere moments after Kold “accidentally” pushed him off the edge. There was some deep growling heard from the pit, how fortunate Kid volunteered to check. “Seriously, what the fuck is- eep!”

More growls, panicked steps and shuffling is heard. Pierre stands several metres from the edge, this situation too familiar for comfort. But from the others' unsynchronized head-turning where they stand above the pit he judges they are yet to see anything that would be the source of Kid's panic.

“Fuck! Help!” The unmistakeable sound of Kid's twin uzis fills the air. When it stops a few seconds later the growls have only added on intensity.

“Boss! Really! It's huge and brown and smelly and wants to fucking maul me!”

There's a beat of silence, even the beast forgot to growl. The men and woman above wait for the inevitable. They don't have to wait long.

“Fuck, I think I found Kold's long lost twin...”

Whatever objection Kold wants to make, his growl, nearly identical to the ones below, isn't helping his case. He jumps down to cut anything he'll find to bits. Kid included. Especially Kid.

“He is playing a dangerous game,” Pierre notes sagely.

“And somehow makes it save his life. Wonder if he did it on purpose,” Cowboy adds as the beast's growls turn pained.

“That would be too smart for him,” even Natla feels compelled to join the conversation.

There's scuffing of boots heard from behind them and then Kid arrives, panting but only a little worse for wear. So he found another way up. Good thing they didn't do something unnecessary and went to help him. And if he's lucky, Kold's bloodthirstiness is quenched enough by the fight with the beast not to try to kill him outright. Well, if he weren't lucky, he'd have already gotten a knife in the gut years ago.

“What's the chance those fuckers killed each other?” he asks. As it turns out, he's not _that_ lucky.

 

* * *

 

“Why the fuck did you shut the door, Frenchie?”

“I did not!” Pierre protests and eyes the lever he used to open the door moments earlier. “It seems to have happened by itself, maybe the mechanism is broken.” He tries once more and the others watch, not walking through, only to see the door closing shut after a little while again.

“It might be on purpose,” Natla lays the palm of her hand on the blocked entrance. “These places aren't meant for a leisurely stroll, or else any idiot could just waltz in.”

“Does it mean I can't go?” Larson whispers to Pierre though everyone hears him anyway.

“Of course you can,” the Frenchman assures him, “as long as I'm with you I'll make sure you don't do anything stupid.”

“Get a fucking room!” Kid shouts at them from the door and kicks the offending slab of stone. He ends up holding his foot, cursing.

Natla folds her arms and looks her henchmen over. “One will have to pull the lever and catch up with the rest. Well, who is the fastest?”

“Pierre's really fast,” Larson jumps to defend his partner's honour after the treacherous lever made his seem incompetent.

“That's too fucking bad for you but we don't fucking care!” Kid screams holding his stubbed toe, earning himself the groans of Cowboy, Kold and even Natla. Larson blinks in confusion and Pierre doesn't comment on the outrageously false assumptions, instead glares at the boy. “Well, you proved yourself quite valuable for opening doors, oui? You may try?”

“Yeah, ain't you supposed to be fast on that thing?” The cowboy adds. “You can jump over to the door if you got enough room right?”

“Fuck no, that shit's too far!” the boy clutches his skateboard where it's slung over his shoulders in fear they'll force him to try.

Kold is meanwhile trying to solve the problem by punching the door to dust, so far unsuccessful. Or maybe it's just out of boredom. Natla leaves him at it – speed or long jumps aren't Kold's forte anyway so he's out. Cowboy sighs and experimentally skips over from the door onto the lower platform halfway from the lever and then attempts the second jump. Pierre catches him in an unusual show of solidarity when the cowboy only just scratches the edge.

“Sorry, boss, don't think I'm the right man for it either,” he admits after giving a nod of thanks to his colleague.

Larson tries the jumps too, with similar results, only there's no-one willing to catch him on the other side, where he scrambles to heave himself up. Pierre runs to his rescue – or jumps more like – and pulls him to safety.

“Looks like we have a winner,” Natla quirks an eyebrow. “What about your fear of heights?”

Pierre peers down the four metres or so, turning a little green. “Oh. I guess this was not much of a height, miss Natla. Maybe.”

“He had to save his damsel in distress,” Kold laughs, giving the door another punch.

“I ain't no damsel!” Larson whirls at him and sneezes. “I'm still kinda cold,” he cuddles up to Pierre. Kold just snickers.

In the end, the door gives them little trouble. Pierre lets the others through and after Larson's sudden cry the Frenchman makes it to them in record time, only to find out Kold “accidentally” stomped on Larson's foot. No-one much comments on it because despite the means, it was probably one of the nicest things Kold ever did for any of them.

 

* * *

 

“Not the fucking darts again!” Kid wails. “Boss, we don't get paid enough for this shit!”

No-one disagrees.

 


	2. City of Vilcabamba

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this written for some time but just kept changing details because I'm still not sure about everyone's characterization, but I don't want to stare at this anymore, so here you go. Feel free to point out stuff that seems weird, I've been re-reading it so many times I don't even know anymore.

“Aww yeah, more mutts!” Kold grins and charges at the wolves prowling around a small square pool.

“I sure fucking hope there are bats too,” Kid looks around in anticipation, then stomps on the paved ground a few times, “”Hey, that looks pretty good!” The next moment he's on his skateboard, riding off to what seems to be a narrow street between buildings.

“That's really reckless,” Cowboy comments, but the boy is already gone.

Pierre is looking around with wary curiosity. “This seems like an actual settlement, if we're lucky we might not encounter any traps here.”

“Don't count on it,” Natla passes him with a snort, observing their surroundings too. “But it really does seem like the city itself.”

“City?” Larson repeats almost offended.

“'S no New York that's for sure,” Cowboy agrees, shooting at the wolves that slip past Kold. Larson doesn't let himself fall behind this time and joins him.

“The City of Vilcabamba,” Natla specifies, although neither of the Southerners listen to her any longer. Pierre does though, curiosity shining in his eyes.

“So this is where Qualopec's people lived? Does it mean his Scion part is nearby?”

“Doubtful,” Natla shakes her head and walks to inspect the water reservoir. “It will be better guarded, and in a more grandiose building than any we can see here.”

“I can't wait to see that,” Pierre admits, at the same time as Kid rides back as fast as he can, maniacal laughter echoing within the walls. There are several wolves following him which he's shooting one by one, and a whole flock of bats he's leaving carefully intact. He makes a sharp turn towards Kold when he spots him and rounds him once, avoiding the knife. The bats take the bait and attack the bald man.

“You little shitstain!”

“Yes!” Kid cheers and pumps his fists. Natla makes a quick step back and so is only a little splashed when Kid, distracted by his success, falls right into the pool.

Everyone chuckles – or outright laughs, is Larson's case – but when Kid surfaces, spluttering and holding his skateboard like the most precious thing in the world, it's the blond who helps him out. It's mostly so he has an excuse not to help Kold – because Kid's right, it's just too funny.

“Was anything of interest down there?” Pierre asks when the boy stops spitting curses and water.

“I don't fucking know, is water fucking interesting to you? 'Cause there was a fuckton of that.” Well, so he does stop spitting water.

“I suppose we will revisit this discussion if we can't find any other way forward,” the Frenchman says diplomatically, not very happy with the idea of a water route either. While it's certainly warmer here than outside on the mountains – warm enough for some greenery to sprout between bricks and cracks in the pavement – he wouldn't enjoy the swim.

“Hey, that seems like some kinda barn!” Cowboy calls cheerfully from a little further away. He steps inside and only his back is seen for a while as he turns his head take a good look at the room. “Oh, golly,” he states.

Those who hear him stop at once. It sounds calm and composed but they didn't yet hear him say so much as one swearword, which makes even this mild utterance quite foreboding. When he aims with his revolver and lightly adds “At least it's a big enough target,” Kid and Larson shoot down the bats at once. Kold might be pretty useful now. Pierre is already aiming at the entrance Cowboy is slowly backing out of and Natla stands a little away not to break their concentration by having to defend her.

There is a growl, one familiar enough for Kid to cower at the sound, and he inches away to have Kold between himself and the beast. He even has enough self-preservation to keep his mouth shut and his uzis aimed.

The bear doesn't make them wait long before lumbering out in all its glory, charging at whoever is the closest. Unfortunately for Cowboy, that's still him, and he lets out several carefully non-explcit swears while shooting from his revolver as fast as he can while moving backwards. Larson and Pierre don't waste time to join in, Kid too after rethinking his position so he doesn't accidentally shoot one of his colleagues. That becomes quite a moot point in the next moment, when Kold runs head-on, pouncing at the bear with an excited cry and plunging his knife deep into the beast's throat. Bullets raining around seem to hurt him about as much as the animal, which is to say apparently not at all, but the others still stop shooting. There's no point now anyway. And... well, a very lucky bullet might harm the guy. Probably. Maybe.

No-one dares to breathe for a few seconds, guns ready, but the beast seems safely dead and Kold very much alive and – seriously? – not even bleeding anywhere that they can see.

Then Kid mutters “Should've warned us it was his fucking family reunion,” and the rest remember to breathe again, moving out of Kold's way as he lunges at the youngest man. But Kid is at an advantage here and skateboards away cackling.

“Ah, we'll go look for a way out of this... city,” Pierre announces, nodding at Larson. Natla agrees with a wave of her hand, sending them away, and stays only with a little shaken Cowboy. She trusts them enough to clean up the place of any remaining animals – and some way or another also to arrange a way forward – so she sits by the pool to take a little break from the walking.

And to inspect the buildings around them. She can certainly see Qualopec's touch here – how hopelessly hideous. She remembers having nightmares about the clothes he wore. Luckily, a very unfortunate, very unexpected and in no way welcome accident (she chuckles a bit to herself) rendered him paralysed from the waist down and the servants who started helping to dress him afterwards were occupationally obligated to have a certain eye for fashion. They didn't bow down to his demands, king or not.

Ah, yes, no matter what some people claimed, Natla didn't hate the Atlanteans. She just... strongly disagreed with some of them. Who just happened to be her two co-rulers. Although even they had some better sides. While he would never admit it to Qualopec's face, Natla knew Tihocan agreed with her opinion on Qualopec's fashion. If only he was more approving of her other points of view, Natla grimaced. Well, one can't have everything.

“It's a door, right?! Pierre, I found a door! Damn it's locked! But there's a keyhole!” Larson's helpful narration of his exploits can be heard somewhere from afar. So they're moving on. Good. It's a funny thing, Natla muses, for all their idiocy and seeming incompetence, they are actually competent enough to get the thing done sooner or later. Well, as long as a third party doesn't enter the playing field.

 

* * *

 

All wolves and bears seem to be dead and Kold is looking for any that aren't, Pierre is searching for a key to the door Larson so heroically found, Natla is with Cowboy who knows where, and so Larson and Kid can walk around Vilcabamba in a rare moment of calm and quiet. It's _boring_.

“So Atlantis looked like this?” the blond kicks a rock, hitting a wall and crumbling off pieces of mortar.

“Boss was a queen of a prehistoric shithole,” Kid snickers and his friend joins him.

“I can hear you!” a female voice sounds from around a corner. They jump in surprise and scramble the opposite way, stiffling giggles as they go.

“Maybe that's why she's pissed so often,” Kid whispers when they think they are far enough.

“It has more to do with your idiocy,” cold voice corrects them. “Are you fooling around instead of searching for a way forward?”

They turn around slowly, shoulders hunched and trying to hide one behind the other without actually moving.

“No, Boss!” Kid finally answers, his inability to keep silent not leaving him even now. “We're totally fucking searching!” he assures her, adding many wild gestures, and Larson is nodding vigorously: “Yeah, we're searching slowly so we don't miss a damn thing, like... oh like this!” He points at the first thing his eyes fall on.

Natla turns to look, wholly expecting something stupid enough that might just leave her vocal cords sore, but what she sees is a lever. A lever on the wall, right next to a door. A lever in plain sight, not covered by anything. _A lever in such a place that she could've seen it right from the pool._

And no-one noticed it. Cowboy stands dutifully nearby and doesn't say a thing, actually he's pretending not to be there at all – maybe Natla won't see him if he doesn't move and doesn't breathe.

As for Natla, she's very tempted to accuse them of infecting her with their stupidity, but decides she still feels far from stupid and only would be insulting herself. Granted, she's the only one allowed to do so, but that doesn't mean she's going to.

In the end she decides she just trusted her henchmen so much that she wasn't paying attention herself (not to mention having to pay attention to this ugly architecture more than necessary is an unpleasant idea) and so it's their fault but at the same time it doesn't make her stupid. Good. (Any tiny voices in her head objecting to this logic are firmly suppressed.)

“Very well, see where it leads and if it helps us any.” She didn't even shout at them any more, they should be grateful.

The two men look at each other both relieved and apprehensive of whatever might await them, but Larson finally pulls the lever and the door opens. They don't see much inside, some primitive firepit and wooden stairs. Not even any animals, lucky! Kid runs up the stairs, only to come to a window.

“Hey, I think this was some stalker's hole! Fucking stairs lead nowhere, you can't do shit but watch the window on the other side of the street.”

“Cool, what's in that window?”

“Err, something white? Something... eww, fucking forget it, that stalker was a fucking necrophiliac!”

Larson's face scrunches in incomprehension at the difficult word and he climbs up too to see what Kid found. He squints into the dim room opposite them. “Ain't that a skull?” he wonders.

“Whole fucking wall's covered in skulls, fucking creeps,” Kid shudders. “Or maybe they were just real edgy,” he adds after a moment of contemplation.

Now, Natla considers herself strictly their employer only, but certain things are just... worrying, so she looks up at Kid from where she is standing outside on the narrow street and asks. “Where did you hear that word?”

“Edgy?” Kid blinks at her.

“Necrophiliac.”

“Huh? Oh! Tsk, fucking Kold said my girlfriend's gonna have to be a necrophiliac 'cause he's gonna gut me before I find any. So I had to like, find that in a dictionary. Took me so much fucking time, might as well remember it,” he crosses his arms in great offence.

“Alright,” Natla nods, satisfied and a little relieved. Kold threatening to gut Kid is as normal as things go here, and using a word Kid didn't know was most likely a deliberate attempt to irritate him.

Larson still doesn't understand the word, but he can ask Pierre later. For now, he judges the distance and turns to his friend. “Hey, you could jump over that, right? Might be pretty cool, jumping into a skull room, right?”

“Fuck no, that would fucking hurt! And if I gotta go in there, then slooowly, 'kay? Something might, like, jump at me. A skeleton.”

“Very well, then go inside. Slowly,” Natla agrees.

“I didn't say I would!” his voice squeaks like it hasn't in several years. His boss just glares.

 

* * *

 

“Are you there yet?” Larson asks a little choked, struggling to stay upright so he can push Kid up.

“Almost, don't wiggle,” comes from above him and then the weight recedes as the younger man finally pulls himself into the opening.

Larson steps away from the wall so he can have a better view along with Natla and Cowboy and watches as Kid peers inside the skull room.

“Yeah, skulls fucking everywhere. Well, on the wall there at least. But there's like, nothing. Some kinda platforms below me, but they look fishy.”

“Just go inside,” Larson prompts, dying of curiosity but also happy he didn't have to go himself.

“Hey, if they break I won't get out! There's no fucking exit!”

“We will get you out if that happens,” Natla drawls and taps her foot impatiently.

“Okay...” Kid sounds defeated. He disappears in the dim light, there's a cracking sound and then a crash, like pieces of stone hitting the ground, accompanied by a very uninspired string of curses.

“Fucking shit! This fucking thing I hate this fucking fucker! What the fuck I knew it'd fucking happen! Fuck!”

“The platforms broke?” Cowboy asks mildly.

“Fuck you! Whaddaya fucking think, huh, you fucker!”

“Well, is there anything new you can see now?” his boss tries to keep his mind on the task.

“Fucking nothing, just skulls and walls. And this wall looks weird.”

“Weird?”

“Fuck yeah, like, err, a square that's different. It's white, kinda.”

“Maybe it's a door, can you see some handle? Or a lever?”

“Not a fucking thing,” Kid answers after half a minute or so. “Shit!”

Natla frowns, that sounded like a surprise rather than simple anger and frustration. “What happened?”

“I pushed the door or whatever, it kinda moved. But like, a little.” Kid is heard straining his muscles – or probably that is what he's doing, it sounds more like mewling – and then, breathless: “It mo-moved a little... more. Just... f... fucking... little.”

“So push it more!” Larson cheers in anticipation.

Kid manages to gather his breath somewhat. “Fuck, it's like... a big rock! I'm not the... heavy-lifting kinda guy!”

“Come on, it can't be that hard!”

“Fuck yeah it's hard! And fucking big! I can't I just... push it fucking inside like nothing!”

Cowboy stifles a chuckle and Natla rolls her eyes but looks amused too. The grunts and groans Kid makes when struggling with the wall don't help any.

With Larson's cheering and Kid's best efforts, there seem to be some results – about fifteen minutes later.

“I can see something! Fuck yeah!” Kid's muffled voice informs them from somewhere deeper inside. Next thing they hear are his uzis, but there isn't any panicked screaming so he's probably fine. They wait a little more but next time Kid says something, it's just too far to be understandable.

“Miss Natla,” they hear loud and clear right next to them, and after straining their ears to hear Kid the three of them jerk in surprise.

“Yes, Pierre,” Natla turns at him and lifts an eyebrow when she sees him absolutely drenched.

“I'm afraid the underwater passages don't lead anywhere of importance. They are... very vast, though.”

“I see,” she says neutrally and turns to Kold, who is also just approaching, in a silent question.

“The door's tough, we'll need the stupid key,” he informs without much explanation, but there's a little blood visible on his knuckles, which is the equivalent of another person smashing their whole hands into paste trying to break the door.

The sound of uzis is briefly heard again and it draws everyone's attention towards the window.

“Kid's inside? Alone?” Kold asks. “Voluntarily?”he adds with a smirk.

Natla rolls her eyes. “Hopefully he found something we can use.”

“Fucking look!” Kid shouts in victory, running towards them from down the street and holding something in his arms. “Look at this shit I found!”

He stops next to them, breathing hard, but there's a prideful grin plastered on his face. “You'd be sooo fucked without me, it's not even funny!”

“It's what I pay you for,” Natla reminds him and reaches out. “Show me.”

Kid hands over what seems to be some kind of golden statue and then a key. Well, the statue is nice, but Natla is rich enough to have such trinkets made in hundreds if she so wished. She hands it to Pierre who seems to be eyeing it with curiosity and then grips the key more firmly. This, this is what she needs, what no amount of wealth can give her.

Well, as long as it's actually the key they were searching for.

They move to the door in anticipation and the men ready their weapons for whatever might be behind it while Natla approaches the lock. The key fits. Good. It better.

 

* * *

 

Darts are criss-crossing the hallway.

“Fucking why...”

 

* * *

 

After they deal with another group of wolves (with practised ease – mainly just let Kold have his fun), they are left staring at their new discovery.

“Huh, strange building...”

“Is that even a building? We are in a big cave and there's more rock wall above the, uh, roof?” Cowboy eyes the red material on top of the lower part of the structure.

“A building, a cave, it doesn't matter, it's obviously man-made,” Pierre marvels at the four pillars standing at the sides. “And not just for commoners to live in either, I'd guess.”

Natla nods. “We're obviously on the right path. And from here...” Everyone's eyes, some more easily that others', find the only apparent way forward – the only open door. They all move without verbal prompting, Natla at the rear, as they navigate the corridor through a few turns.

A pool in the room they arrive to earns them a low defeated sigh from Pierre, who hardly had time to stop dripping water, but then it turns into a decidedly higher whine when their eyes take in the whole area and the Frenchman realizes that the way actually leads upwards. And requires jumping over missing parts of the floor.

His boss sighs. This is really becoming a problem, and she can only expect similar feats of athleticism to be needed more and more often. “Someone who won't throw up, get up there,” she orders.

Kid very decidedly backs away and then takes a few more steps away from Kold. When he's forced to go through such shit, he loves to at least rub it in their faces how much he accomplished. But with the frequency it's been happening today... yeah, he's not getting dragged into any more climbing or jumping or _being thrown_ anytime soon.

Natla quirks an eyebrow at him but she's apparently feeling magnanimous at the moment and leaves him be. “Larson, Cowboy, you two try to climb up.”

“Eeeh?” Larson pulls a face like a child. The other man only tips his head in understanding and walks up the stairs, if a little shakily after seeing the height. He prepares for a jump – Pierre covers his eyes – and then the blond shouts: “Hey, dammit, wait for me!”

The next sounds Pierre hears are some hurried steps, a thud, a yelp and two loud splashes accompanied by a light shower that sprinkles the back of his hands, which he then reluctantly pulls down.

Larson is spluttering water and swearing as he swims rather crudely to the edge and Pierre is quick to help him climb out. No-one helps Cowboy, who is scowling as he fishes out his hat and thrusts it soaking back on his head. Kid is howling with laughter, Kold is also letting out some low chuckles, and Natla looks just resigned.

Cowboy is fuming as he stomps to Larson and no-one is sure if he's shaking from cold or anger, but it's probably not nervousness anymore. “You're only good for shooting and idiocy, Conway,” he jabs a finger to the blond's chest.

“How rude!” Pierre exclaims. “Don't you dare speak to my partner like that.”

“Keep him on a leash then,”Cowboy snarls and tries to wring his clothes out without taking them off, leaving Pierre to comfort his dejected partner. “He's wrong, mon cher, don't listen to him,” the Frenchman pats his back soothingly and pulls him into a hug – they're both soaked through so it doesn't really matter.

“I could totally do it if he wasn't standing there,” Larson mutters and Pierre readily agrees with him. “Of course you would, such a thing is only too easy for you.”

“Well?” Natla asks sharply, because no-one moved towards the steps again.

“I'm goin'!” Larson exclaims, heartened by Pierre's faith in him, who makes a move to stop him but thinks better of it. He's worried but truly believes Larson is capable of it, no need to discourage him now. The water will break his fall if- Pierre winces and clasps his hands together to stop them from shaking.

“Be careful, mon cher!” he calls at last.

“Boss, can we leave it to him then?” Cowboy asks.

Natla looks at him, easily seeing the poorly hidden hope, and just shrugs. “We don't know what's there, he might be enough.” The relief on her subordinate's face is clear as day.

Larson manages the jumps, even if one is a narrow success, having to pull himself up from where he landed with his legs dangling off. Kid is providing a cheerful commentary to Pierre, who is not looking and doing his best not to throw up. (When he almost does and Kid realizes the vomit would most likely be aimed at him, the commentary stops.)

Larson finally reaches the top and disappears from everyone's sight. Then looks down again. “I pulled some lever, dunno what it did, but I ain't got nothing else here.”

“Maybe something was let loose!” Kold grins and runs outside. The rest follows, Larson a bit slower as he climbs down the way he came. Pierre actually smacks Kid over the head for calling at Larson to “do a cannonball”.

Turns out a previously closed door had opened, with a similar pool and broken floors inside. It's not hard to guess what their task here is, considering the last, still closed door waiting for them.

To Cowboy's relief and Pierre's apprehension, Larson takes on the task willingly.

After a bit of falling and finding out that even the _not_ missing floor can become missing with a mere light step, the third door is opened and the whole group gathers in front of it, Pierre holding Larson like he never wants to let him go anywhere alone again.

“It... _seems_ safe,” Cowboy quips, staring into the hallway, but makes no move to step forward.

“Hope not!” Kold snorts, disappointed by the lack of things to kill. He starts moving forward, not too fast but evenly and with an assurance of a tank.

“What the hell,” he rasps in a low voice when something stabs his upper arm.

“Oh fuck! You fucking kidding me? That's... fuck, boss, seriously? Is this gonna happen every time we go _anywhere_ here?” Kid whines.

“Not really,” Natla answers him and steps closer to Kold to inspect the huge crescent-like blade, stopped mid-swing by the man's biceps. “So far there have been darts, this is new.”

“Oh for fucks sake!” the boy throws his hands up. “How does that matter?”

Natla arches an eyebrow at him, debating his intelligence. Pierre takes pity on him. “It means we can expect a variety of traps. Anything can happen. I assume... it is only going to get worse.”

“Most assuredly,” Natla agrees and ignores the squelching sound of Kold pulling the blade out of his flesh. The group hurriedly runs past him before he lets it swing freely again, leading to them all crammed in a little square of space in front of the second swinging blade.

“Ugh, move it!” Kid squeaks, pressed face first to the wall.

“You move!” Larson counters, feeling Kid's elbow in his ribs.

“This is really undignified,” Pierre comments, holding Larson close so the blond doesn't accidentally step in the blade's way.

“You really gotta move forward!” Cowboy calls at them from the back.

Kold is watching them impassively from his superior heigh, but the faint tick in his eye reveals to those who truly look that he will not stand them being crowded around him for long.

Natla lingers the furthest back, daring to appropriate a more spacious yet more dangerous position with the first blade nearly nicking her outfit. Nearly – she measures the distance well.

“Fuck!” Kid hisses and Pierre has good enough view to see that the boy is looking at Kold. The Frenchmen worries he might screw his own neck off, yet manages to look at the largest man himself. And blanches. Anyone nearby might soon be in danger greater than some swinging blades – meaning in the reach of a knife blade wielded by their irritated, bloodthirsty colleague.

There is furious squirming and Kid drops to the floor, crawling under the trap.

“Yer such a one trick pony!” Larson scoffs, but contemplates if his bigger frame fits in the gap too.

“At least he does _something_ ,” Cowboy shoves him forward in an attempt to get himself further from Kold. Larson yelps, loses balance and grabs the first thing in reach – the thing being the pole carrying the swinging blade.

“Whoa!” is all he manages to get out before he's dragged sideways, Pierre with him by the hands they are still holding. Their combined weight proves to be too much as there is a metal screeching and the whole contraption is ripped from the wall, falling on the stone floor with a loud clang.

“Whoops?” Larson offers after two seconds of everyone just staring at it.

“That... is indeed a solution too,” Natla appraises with an unimpressed quirk of one eyebrow.

Kold's hand stops its course towards his knife and instead reaches for the ripped off blade, grabbing the pole like a handle. “I like it,” he grins. Then proceeds to rip the third blade to dual wield his new weapons and suddenly the way forward is clear.

Well, mostly.

There is a gate and beyond it a growl they now easily recognize as a bear.

“No one touch him, bastards, he's mine!” the big man shouts in a voice that could be, were it anyone less intimidating, described as giddy anticipation.

“Sure,” Kid wrinkles his nose, backing away to the right, away from both Kold and the ornamental gate through which they can now see the beast. “Uh, hey, a lever, should I pull it?”

“Yes, that would be-” Natla starts but is interrupted by the sound of flesh hitting flesh. She, Kid and even Kold turn to see Pierre standing protectively in front of a mostly confused Larson, hands balled into fists, and Cowboy with his back against the wall holding his quickly darkening left cheek.

“Right decision?” Pierre hisses, apparently continuing a conversation the other half of the group haven't been paying attention to.

“Ya saw Kold, somethin' worse woulda happened!” Cowboy growls, “Ya talk like I _want_ _ed_ ta hurt yer darlin'.”

“Something worse?!” Pierre exclaims. “Worse than Larson dying?”

“He ain't dead!”

“Non! But it was mere luck,” the Frenchman hisses, “Mere luck that he was not even badly hurt. You did not care!”

“Both of you!” Natla snaps at them, “Stop it!” And they do, turning to her with not at all contrite expressions.

“Are you going to continue the moment I turn away?” She asks knowingly, feeling a vein starting to throb in her forehead.

“Ma'am, he attacked me!”

“Miss Natla, he almost killed Larson!”

“Shut up!” she points a finger at them sharply. “Pierre, Kold is understandably menacing to those who don't know him, it makes sense why Cowboy would act. Cowboy, almost killing Larson was moronic and I'd have expected a better solution from you. Now get the hell along you two!” With that last word, she stomps to the lever Kid is standing next to. Fighting a bear together might be a good team-building exercise, she decides angrily as she pulls it.

Her stomach drops. Anger is replaced by dread. Then water fills her ears, muting Kid's high pitched screech. For one disorienting moment, she doesn't know up from down despite the gravity having just told her in a very convincing fashion.

But Natla didn't get to be a queen by panicking when in trouble. She stops all movement and dares to open her eyes. The water is still and surprisingly clear, so she can see Kid erratically making his way up. Feeling something solid under her feet, she kicks herself from the bottom, breaching the surface with a big gulp of air and dragging Kid with her by his collar. He gasps and coughs but keeps his head above water, so she lets him go after a moment and finally looks up from where she can hear distressed voices calling her.

All four of them are leaning over the edge, arguments forgotten. “I am fine,” she assures them.

“Thank goodness!” Cowboy sighs.

“We couldn't jump after in case we landed on you,” Pierre explains, still shaken – because there is a lever that makes the user _fall though a trapdoor_ – but definitely relieved.

“Hey, Kid, ya fallin' a lot today,” Larson calls and chuckles when the boy answers with an empathic “Fuck you!” between spitting water.

Kold is standing a little away from the rest but watching his boss intently. Without saying a word, he leans further down and holds out his new sickle-weapon.

“This won't work,” Natla shakes her head after trying to stretch her arm as much as she can. “It's too short. We need to find another way out.”

“Nooo,” Kid whines and tries to reach for the pole himself despite being the only one in the group even shorter than Natla. Not that it matters anyway because Kold swiftly retracts his helping hand with a grin. “Well fuck you too,” the boy mutters weakly.

“Did the gate open?” Natla asks to be sure, although she quite doubts her bodyguard would be just standing there if he had an access to the bear. Not to mention the others would more than likely run away or just jump after her to get away from the beast.

“It didn't,” Kold frowns with clear dissatisfaction.

Natla nods in understanding and turns to Kid. “Stay here,” she orders him to the surprise of the rest. “Now that I am wet I might as well do this myself. This is likely the only way forward anyway.”

“O-okay,” Kid stammers. “Are you sure? What if – what if there are crocodiles?”

“In Peru? Doubtful,” she arches her eyebrow. “But if there were, are you saying you could dispose of them?”

Kid has no answer to that, just something that might have been a cringe if he wasn't chin-deep in water.

“Then wait here,” she repeats and then throws one glance at the men higher up: “Behave.” The next moment she's gone.

They might be waiting a few seconds or a few minutes, atmosphere tense and suffocating because this is their boss going in alone and while they know she's not an ordinary person, she is... a businesswoman, a scientist, a CEO. They have never really saw her get physical with anything bigger than a jammed stapler.

There's a sound of breaching water – behind the gate. They run over, mindful not to get too close in case the bear decides to stick his claws through, and only now notice there is a pool of water on the other side. And their boss is there, with no way out unless she wishes to encounter the beast.

“Maybe we should just shoot it through the bars after all,” Cowboy offers. Kold actually seems to be reluctantly considering it.

“With your aim?” Pierre accuses. “And hit Miss Natla instead, I presume? You really like to put others is mortal danger, oui?”

“Excuse me?” Cowboy snaps.

“Well I suppose there would be no danger if Larson were to do it,” the Frenchman continues.

“Eh? Really?” Larson chimes in, happy with the praise.

“What did I just say?” Natla's freezing cold voice comes from the pool, stopping even the bear in its prowling. “Stop your damn yapping. There's another tunnel underwater, I'm going to check it out, so sit tight.”

“Boss-” Kold starts but Natla is already gone. Her bodyguard punches the closed gate, partly in frustration and partly to get the bear's attention so it doesn't decide to go take a swim.

“What's happening there?” Kid calls from his hole. They ignore him.

It takes hardly a minute when they see their boss again, this time standing triumphantly on some sort of a balcony on the right side of the room. “There is a switch,” she shouts at them, “pray it opens the gate or you are all swimming.”

“I hope they do,” comes from Kid's direction.

Natla disappears again and then the way forward is finally opened to them, everyone more than happy to let Kold take the lead and pounce at the bear.

“Wait but... what about me?” Kid whines, this time ignored for the simple reason of no-one hearing him. “Just fucking great,” he mutters but does what he already expected he was going to have to do anyway, diving the way his boss swam earlier. The path is shorter than he expected, despite knowing it can't be far to the next room, and he surfaces just in time to see Natla jumping from a ledge into Kold's arms.

“Seen any crocodiles?” she asks her youngest henchman as she slides gracefully from her bodyguard's hold and walks along the pool, showing no discomfort at all at her wet, clinging clothes. Still, Kold shrugs off his long brown coat and offers it to her, which she accepts with a grateful nod. She rakes a hand through her short hair to get it from her face, but what would look like a mess on anyone else she manages to turn into something that could be defended as the newest fashion.

Kid just grumbles indistinctly in answer and finally climbs out.

“Miss Natla!” Pierre calls excitedly from another gate that has opened after she pulled the lever. There is just another wall behind it, but with a depiction of something she finds strangely familiar.

“Yes?” she acknowledges him and walks closer. Pierre pulls out the golden statue Kid found earlier and now Natla understands where she has seen the picture before. “I see,” she pulls her lips in a half-smile. And when Pierre makes a sidestep to show her a shallow hole in the wall, carved in the statue's shape, she smiles fully. “Do it,” she nods.

Pierre doesn't hesitate and with the others around watching curiously, there's a quiet sense of accomplishment when the wall with the statue painting opens to reveal a plain stone passageway.


	3. The Lost Valley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah, The Lost Valley! Who knows what our heroes might find there... Yeah, okay, we know. We all know. Wish them luck, they'll need it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me over half a year, but a new chapter is here, phew. Sorry for the wait, the T-Rex and character development kicked my ass.
> 
> Feel free to point out any inconsistencies or typos, I've edited it several times so I might've made some new ones in the process...

“Ain't it kinda warmer here?” Larson speaks up when they enter the narrow passageway.

“Maybe you are finally drying up,” Pierre offers.

Cowboy opens his mouth to testify he also finds the temperature rising, but with one look at Pierre he stops himself, frowning. He has no intention to discuss anything with him, even if it leaves him talking to the likes of idiots such as Kid or butchers like Kold. Or the boss, that is probably the best choice.

“No, it really feels warmer,” Natla joins in. “And more humid. There's also running water nearby.” By the time she says it, the others already hear it too.

“Awesome,” Kid rubs his hands, “Kold's the only one who's still dry.”

“I only bath in the blood of my enemies,” Kold deadpans without looking at the boy. Everyone but Natla inches away.

They arrive at the stream, narrow, fast and strong. The path leads both ways but on the left it soon ends – no-one mentions that it's possible to go further by jumping onto the other bank – so they go right. Pierre only has to grab Larson twice to prevent him from falling into the stream.

“Mutts!” Kold grins and jumps down from the edge where the water abruptly begins its fall. The others except Pierre rush to see from what height he just flung himself to find out there are rock platforms just big enough to make their way down safely. The large man only makes use of one or two and lands hard on one of the wolves with a sickening crunch.

“Ewww!” Kid wrinkles his nose. “Kold's taking a bath.”

Natla snorts. “Let's follow him before he gets too far.” Just about then her bodyguard shouts something about “even more of them” and disappears in a nearby cavern. She sighs.

“Wow, it's pretty!” Larson exclaims when they climb down and finally have a good view of the waterfall ending in the lake.

“Yes, it is.” Pierre agrees but he's finally on flat ground so he'd appreciate mostly anything he'd see. His legs are a bit shaky.

They follow the path of dead wolves to find Kold idly tossing his knife in the air. “An entire wolf den,” he says, more content than they've seen him today.

“So it's a dead end?” Natla looks around, squinting in the shadowy cave.

“There's another path, if you climb up the rock face just around this corner,” he nods the way they came, “I don't know how far it leads, but there were no wolves there, not even pawprints. The temperature is also rising steadily the further you go.”

Pierre, Larson and Cowboy are watching him like he just grew another head. Despite the fresh blood so much more visible on his white shirt than it was on his dark coat, he seems... less intimidating, somehow. He just made several sentences with no swearing, no anger and with a vocabulary unlike any they heard him use before.

Neither Natla nor Kid seem nonplussed at this sudden change. “So we're staying the night here?” the younger one asks his boss. Whatever gave him this idea, Natla is obviously of the same opinion.

“Yes, this looks like a safe enough place. With no idea what awaits us, who knows when we find another.”

Larson chooses that moment to yawn. “And it's kinda da-aah-aaark.”

“The light has quite diminished,” Pierre agrees.

“Fuck yes! Food! Sleep!” Kid plops down on a rock. Larson follows with as much enthusiasm, but even the rest shows some contentment to finally be off their feet, seated on random rock protrusions.

They don't bother trying to cook anything, only Kold decides after a while to skin some wolves and cook them on a makeshift fire. (“We have a perfectly good camp stove, if you need it,” Pierre reminds him but is ignored.) The surreality of the situation when Kold is not itching to kill anything and doesn't make any creepy grins is increased when he actually _offers_ the others the meat.

Larson might be willing, but Pierre is throwing him warning looks. Cowboy eyes the deliciously smelling meat but doesn't trust it until someone else tries it first. To their continued confusion of this evening, Natla and Kid don't hesitate to partake in the roasted wolf.

If there's anyone they wouldn't expect Kold to poison, it would be their boss. And anyway, Pierre reasons while watching Larson's entreating expression, if Kold wanted to kill any of them, it would include a hunting knife in their intestines, not poison. He gives a nod and reaches for a leg with Larson right after him.

Cowboy doesn't take any. Not because he still worries it is unsafe, but because... while the invitation has been universal, he hopes it would be extended to him personally, to be sure he was included in it. It's an absurd thought, really, and he wonders if his subconscious is trying to tell him something. He raises his eyes from where they had been idly drilling holes into the ground of stone and dirt and lets them roam over the people around.

He stops at Kid. He watches the boy, completely at ease next to the man who has apparently tried to gut him several times today. Then it finally clicks, something that should have been pretty clear, really – Kold is _not_ trying to kill Kid for real. Of course the boss wouldn't want to lose her employees over something so stupid! Especially as – he throws one furtive glance at Larson – well, she wasn't happy when another one of her men was almost killed today. Then Cowboy remembers what the boss said at that time. _Kold_ _is understandably menacing to those who don't know him._ So it's for show? He obviously enjoys killing those animals, but the rest...

Another glance around tells him that Kid is close to dozing off, tilting precariously close to Kold's shoulder, and neither of them mind. The boss is even watching it with something close to fond amusement, still shrouded in Kold's large coat.

On the other side of the impromptu camp, Larson is half-asleep next to Pierre, who is trying to stay awake with hardly any more success. They are leaning heavily on each other, Pierre's arm around his partner's waist.

There is a soft snore from the right. One look reveals that Kid finally lost the fight with exhaustion and is lightly drooling on the other man's shoulder. Instead of carnage, Kold's only reaction is a mildly annoyed stare.

Natla stands up and in the silence of the night she doesn't have to speak loud at all: “Up, everyone. You are not sleeping like this if you want to be of any use to me tomorrow. Pierre, Larson, clean up the food. Kold, Kid, put up the tents.”

Well, Cowboy knows what his subconscious was trying to tell him by now, he doesn't need to _hear_ it too. He suppresses a sigh. “Boss? What about me?”

“Hm?” Natla turns to him. “You can help them,” she waves her hand vaguely at the rest.

“Right,” he sighs a little now. “Can I talk to you first, ma'am? Alone?” He can immediately feel Kold's suspicious gaze, even though a second ago he seemed fully immersed in his job of dragging Kid to work. Boss chose her bodyguard well, if there ever was any doubt.

“Very well,” she allows and makes a little hand gesture to make Kold know it's alright.

They walk out and stop by the waterfall, effectively preventing anyone from listening in, not that they expect it.

“What is it?” Natla turns to him sharply with crossed arms.

Cowboy takes a deep breath to steady himself. “I'd like to request... that I leave this expedition.”

Natla doesn't look surprised. Still, she asks. “Why?”

“You've seen it today, ma'am, I don't really contribute to all of this. Or instead cause something stupid.”

“You'd contribute more if you weren't such a coward. You spend more time avoiding danger than anyone else,” she says with a knowing gaze.

“I can't- you know if something happened to me- they don't have anyone else-”

Natla stops him with one raised palm. “I'm aware of your family situation.” She debates with herself for a second before continuing. “And I hope you know that not getting along with your colleagues has the same cause as your seeming uselessness.”

Cowboy scoffs at that, self-deprecating. Of course she noticed he was feeling... well, lonely, watching the others. Then he frowns. “Seeming?”

“As I said – you'd do more if you dared. But,” she lifts her palm again when he starts opening his mouth, “I can hardly order you this, or you might do something really stupid and put us all in danger. If you don't want to be part of this expedition, you can quit.”

“Really?” he blinks. Then he pales. “Oh... oh dear... Boss, are – are you firing me?”

“You're really underestimating the effort that goes into finding good employees,” Natla walks over to the edge of the lake, staring at its surface, now almost black. “You just won't get paid. Well, you will for this one,” she clarifies and turns back to him. “You'd just die somewhere in the mountains if you left now, so you'll complete the search for the first piece with us. If you don't change your mind until then, I won't ask you to go join us on the next one. Is that _acceptable_?” she cocks one eyebrow, daring him to have any complaints.

He can't bring himself to voice any. Not really. He's not happy about having to continue on for now, but he understands leaving from here and alone might be next to impossible. He shouldn't've come in the first place, but the pay was just too tempting. “Very acceptable, boss,” he nods.

“Good. If that is all, I'd like to get some sleep. And you too, if you don't want to add to your excuses for being useless.”

“Right,” he grimaces and follows her back to the camp.

* * *

 

Waking up isn't much of a problem. Kold is a light sleeper – which was useful during the night as no-one needed to keep watch for wolves – and his biological clock works flawlessly. He's asleep and then fully conscious the next second. Subsequently, Kid jerks awake in case Kold tried to wake him up by throwing him in the lake or something worse.

Cowboy didn't sleep very well, troubling thoughts swirling in his head, so the rustle around is enough to get him up. Larson and Pierre are dreaming peacefully, huddled next to each other, and Kid slams heavy pots over their heads. They didn't need them for cooking yesterday, it would be a shame to drag them all the way here with no use.

Larson flails around and almost pokes Pierre in the eye, then takes in his surroundings, grabs a pot of his own and chases Kid around.

Natla is long awake, staring intently at her phone, and only takes one step to the left when the two barrel past her, giggling like idiots while trying to hit each other with cookware. She lifts her phone above her head, purses her lips in dismay, and looks at the others.

“Well, as it seems you're all full of energy, we might as well set off.”

“What? I don't have my things packed! Where's my skateboard?”

“And I'm hungry!”

“Has anyone seen my hairbrush?”

“Who's turn is it to take care of the tents?”

“Get lost brat or I'll gut you!”

“Fuck off! I'm looking for my skate!”

“I'm _really_ hungry!”

“Well I s'ppose _I_ can take down the tents...”

“Has anyone seen my mirror?”

Natla pinches the bridge of her nose. The previous night after arriving to Peru was spent in a hotel so she didn't need to be a witness to this chaos. No such luck here.

“I'm going back upstream. Brush you hair and pack your things before I return.”

“Back there? Why?” Kid asks, hanging upside down, Kold holding him by an ankle.

Natla sniffs in offence and looks at her phone. “There's no signal, I need to check my stocks.”

“Huh, makes sen- owch! Fuck you Kold!” Kid massages his head, lying on the ground.

Natla and Kold make their way through the cave up by the waterfall. The path is quite easily climbable when looking from the ground. The signal is still non-existent though, so they continue in hopes of higher altitude and visible skies. They have basically spent the night in a cave inside a cave.

The stream is narrow, not really a problem even for Kold to skip over. They arrive at a dead end – the water is coming from a crevice in the rock and there is no way outside. Not that Natla cares much at this point, the hunt for signal is briefly forgotten as she stands on a wooden bridge, looking over a mechanism consisting of cog wheels and a lever. Down below to the right, she can see some sort of golden gate preventing the stream from entering another canal.

“There must be a reason why they would want to redirect the water,” she muses out loud, faintly regretting not dragging Pierre along. Maybe he'd notice something she's overlooking. Kold is looking pretty disinterested in everything here.

“Well then, I suppose we can try and see-” Natla goes for the lever before noticing something in the mechanism. “Or not,” she says. Experimentally, she pulls the lever anyway, but just as expected, the gears fail to do anything when some parts are missing. But the first few do turn, so that leaves her hope that if they need this to work later, getting the three missing cogs should be enough to solve the problem. Not that she expects them to be lying around, but maybe they could be replaced by something. Or Kold could just try to move the gate manually... although if the gates from Vilcabamba are any proof, his strength probably won't be enough to move with anything any other way than was intended.

“Let's go back for now,” she decides.

“No luck?” Kold nods at her phone.

“No,” Natla shakes her head. “I don't like it. I don't trust the board of directors not to do something stupid while I'm gone.” She sighs and pockets the phone. “Of course, what we're doing here is more important. But I'd prefer not to come back and find my company in shambles.”

“Will you still need the company?” Kold picks her up and jumps with her back over the stream.

“Maybe not but I don't want to have this decision made for me by a bunch of incompetents. I'll be free to decide only once we've found all the Scion pieces. _If_ we find them, with the way this expedition is going.”

“Cowboy's backing out?”

Natla snorts. Maybe Kold was following them last evening after all or maybe he just guessed, both options are just as plausible. “I wouldn't hire a man supporting a family if he wasn't so good, but it still complicates things,” she admits. “He needs to finish with us here, but he's decided not to join us on the next expedition.”

“Just scared?”

“Also feeling useless.”

Kold just grunts at that.

They return to a mostly quiet former camp, the men finishing their breakfast.

“Ready?” Natla says. With various levels or enthusiasm, they profess their agreement and get up.

“Anything interesting up there?” Pierre asks.

“Yes, actually,” Natla nods. “Some sort of cog mechanism, most probably for re-routing the stream. But it's missing some pieces.”

Pierre is immediately interested. “Ah, and I missed that! Re-routing, you say? Away from the waterfall?”

Natla's eyes go wide. “Change of plans, let's get to the waterfall again.” They follow her without complaint, although their expressions say they don't understand what she just realized.

It's a short walk, just to the lake, and Natla stares intently at the strong stream of falling water. “We need to find out if there is anything behind it.”

“Like a secret route?” Pierre steps up to stand next to her, staring at the waterfall too. He's quite excited that it was his idea that brought them another step forward. Well, maybe. Only if something is there.

“We can just throw something through,” Kold grins and gropes to the left, but Kid, who was just standing beside him, is halfway up the rock formations. “Fuck you! I'm not getting thrown or getting wet or... or... if there's nothing you're just gonna throw me into a fucking wall!”

“He has a point,” Natla shrugs. “Try some boulder instead.”

Kold does so, picking a broken off piece of rock as big as his head and chucks it at the waterfall about a meter above surface. The falling water sweeps it away and drags it to the depths of the lake.

“That... wasn't a rock wall behind it, was it?” Cowboy asks. “The boulder just didn't go though...”

“Waterfalls are that strong?” Larson cocks his head. “Ain't that just water?”

“Water can be very strong,” Pierre informs him. “But this waterfall doesn't seem quite long and large enough for that. Maybe it was-” he shots a look at Kold and stops, not daring to finish his thought. The huge man's eyes narrow. It seems he correctly guessed the suggestion about his insufficient strength.

“Try again,” Natla just says.

Kold grunts affirmatively, picks up a slightly bigger boulder and throws it with even more strength. The same happens.

“It's the mechanism,” Natla purses her lips. “Use the mechanism or you get nothing, someone made very sure of it.”

“So what now?” Pierre asks.

“We'll continue as we planned, but won't be straying so far that we couldn't find our way back here. Let's get moving,” Natla orders and they finally head towards the rocky formations. It takes some struggle to climb up them, but it's not just the exercise that makes them warm. They can definitely feel the warmer air coming from ahead.

“Oh fucking great, a skeleton!” Kid spreads him arms dramatically above something that undoubtedly used to be a human.

“You were in a room with a wall made of human skulls,” Cowboy reminds him.

“Yeah but that was like they were decorations, this is just a dead guy and I don't fucking think the wolves jumped here to eat him!”

“There might be more mutts ahead!” Kold exclaims. He makes a few steps forward and get a better look at what is in front of them. “The hell?” he mutters.

Natla follows him. “That looks like lianas. And palm trees.”

“It's... really green,” Larson offers.

“Why the fuck's the sky black? Ain't it morning?” Kid asks.

“We're still underground,” Pierre guesses. “Like a greenhouse.”

“Looks like it,” Natla agrees.

All of them stand at the edge of the short passageway for a short minute, taking it in. Kold's eyes flit around, searching for prey and not finding any. “Something must live there,” he mutters. He throws a questioning look at his boss and when she nods he picks her up and jumps down on the grass. The rest climbs down and follow his vigilant steps forward. He's now holding his recently acquired weapons, the sickle blades apparently too interesting for him to throw away. The rest draw their guns.

There's an unmistakeable sound of stomping feet. It sounds bigger than a wolf and also bipedal.

“What is-” Kid starts and then jumps a whole half a meter into the air with a shriek when something that can be nothing else but a _dinosaur_ dashes towards them, making its own screech as if in answer.

Before the others can react, Kold lodges one of his sickle blades into the animal's skull, downing it immediately.

“Holy fucking shit! Fuck! What the fucking fuck!” Kid shakes, peering from behind nearby rocks.

“Fuck,” Larson agrees, just as Pierre mutters, “Mon Dieu...”

Cowboy is even further back than Kid, almost glued to the wall they have climbed down, unable to form a word.

“That is quite interesting,” Natla assesses and walks up to the fresh corpse to get a better look. When it was alive, its eyes were almost level with hers. Quite a small species, for a dinosaur. They should count themselves lucky they didn't come across something bigger. “Maybe you weren't that far off with the crocodiles,” she offers to Kid, who doesn't happy look at all about it.

Kold retrieves his weapon and looks around, eyes glinting. “This might be fun!”

The others don't follow him anymore when he walks forward, and soon, there's another dinosaur corpse at Kold's feet, the same species as before. Yes, they are happy to let him have his fun and clean up the area. They watch him go further, so far that he starts getting shrouded a little in the shadows in this strange light.

It's deadly quiet. They didn't really notice all the little rustles and squeaks until it all suddenly stopped. Their feet shudder with faint tremors coming from the ground. An earthquake? That wouldn't be very safe considering they are still in a cave, if a really vast one.

Then again, an earthquake doesn't really feel like this. Rhythmical, accompanied by thudding sounds that are progressively getting louder.

Like stomping feet.

Larson and Pierre hold onto each other. Natla exercises caution and moves next to Kid behind the boulders. Cowboy is trying to climb back up the way they came, but his panic doesn't let him find a purchase and he soon gives up, flattening himself in the corner.

Kold stands, feet spread apart, blades at the ready.

Quite unhelpfully, Kid just notices two more human skeletons among the bushes and some seriously huge footprints in the wet dirt. He doesn't move a finger, staring transfixed ahead into the mist and shadows. He can _imagine_ what is coming but-

A looming lizard silhouette takes shape in the darkness. The next moment it comes to light and none of the five tiny, squishy humans in the back can't suppress a wave of cold sweat.

The creature is enormous, with green-grey leathery skin covering its hulking body. Even from a distance, if much shorter than they would prefer, the quintet have to slightly crane their necks to see its head. And then the humongous lizard screams, its jaw opening wide to show rows of sharp teeth.

Kold abandons his stable position to put one foot forward, give a slightly weaker but somehow no less intimidating cry and lunges.

The T-Rex – because nothing but a Tyrannosaur Rex could this dinosaur be – is considerably slower and before making one more stomp, a curved blade slashes its snout. It utters another cry, turning its head away, but there isn't anything but a barely visible scrape on it. Kold jumps to repeat the attack and his opponent manages to avoid the hit this time by flailing around to get rid of the pain. So the scrape at last hurts, for better or worse.

Kold has to avoid the dinosaur's next movement so it doesn't trample him. Surprisingly self-preserving tactic, Natla muses, but then her thoughts take a rather drastic turn when she realizes the T-Rex is nearing the five of them as it moves around. She would warn Kold, but that would draw the lizard's attention to their hiding spot. She can only hope Kold will soon realize so himself.

Larson and Pierre are still holding onto each other, Larson rather desperately fingering his gun with the hand that can reach it without letting go of Pierre, while the Frenchman is turning his head frantically around, trying to find an escape from the place that can soon become a death trap.

Good thinking, but Natla herself can't see any other way than past the two fighters – or climbing back, but it's too high to get up quickly without risking the T-Rex noticing them. Besides, they need to search this area, not run away.

The stomping gets closer. Natla turns back to the fight. Well, this really doesn't look good. And by a certain stroke of luck, Kold finally notices too. He gives her one look, a look than on anyone else might be read as worried, and then shouts at her, back turned, not letting the dinosaur out of his sight for longer than a moment: “There's a cave on the right! Run along the rocks, I'll distract it! On my signal!”

No-one has time to waste wondering about the slew of words. They watch as Kold performs another jumping attack, this time with both blades, trying to chase the creature to the left wall. He's progressing slowly and when it looks like his work might go in vain, he finally shouts: “Now!”

Pierre shoots out like a bullet, dragging Larson with him easily after long years of practice. Natla would be right behind them but when she pushes Kid forward, he turns with a hissed “Cowboy!”

The man in question is staring at the dinosaur, paralysed with fear. Natla curses under her breath. Then she runs to him to pull him the right way, towards Kid who is standing there with deceptive calmness, glancing back and forth between the battle, his boss and the direction of safety where Pierre and Larson already disappeared. When Natla gets close enough to him, he grabs the hand she isn't dragging Cowboy by and pulls her with all his strength and meagre weight of his body.

They put all their focus towards the cave. If there's one thing they know about running away from danger, it's to not look back to see how far behind it is.

Still, there's the T-Rex's cry a little too close for comfort... followed by its different cry, hopefully in pain.

The next scream is decidedly human.

By now, Cowboy is running quite willingly and with all his might, but Natla and Kid almost stop when they hear Kold make such a sound. Cowboy overtakes them as they slow down and Kid half-turns and loosens his grip on Natla's hand before Natla clenches her teeth, tears her hand from his grip fully only to grab him by his upper arm and haul him the last few metres into the cave entrance.

The three who arrived before them are bent over and catching their breath but Kid and Natla turn around, even sliding a bit on the gravelly ground in their hurry, and are panting deeply while simultaneously wanting to hold their breaths at the sight of Kold.

He is still standing, if barely. Both blades lay on the ground, dirty and broken, and he's gripping his trusty dagger which is still holding its shape.

Natla finally catches her breath: “Leave it! Run here!”

It's a proof of the seriousness of the situation that Kold willingly concedes an unfinished fight and with one last sweep at the snout as it's nearing him again he slips under the beast's head and barrels his way through a few thin bushes and over one human skeleton.

The T-Rex is shortly disoriented, already in pain, and only too late notices its opponent.

Larson, Pierre and Cowboy have already moved further into the cave and the moment Kold is in reach, Kid and Natla drag him after the others.

“Holy fucking shit, are you dying?” Kid asks in a loud, obnoxious but shaky voice.

“I'll show you dying,” Kold growls and brandishes the dagger he's still firmly holding.

“Ah, fuck, he's alive,” Kid turns to Natla after dropping Kold's arm like a hot potato. He doesn't quite manage to hide the relief in his voice.

“Clearly,” Natla nods, her face too blank to be anything but a front. Then her neutral expression melts as she whirls around at Cowboy:

“What was that?! If there's one thing I thought I could count on you with, it's saving your own hide!”

“Seriously,” Kid drawls.

“I-I suppose I froze up-” Cowboy stammers. “It was – it _is –_ a... it almost killed Kold! What could _I_ do?”

“Run away! No-one wanted anything else from you!” Natla growls. A much louder growl answers her from the outside, where the T-Rex paces around the entrance. She takes a deep breath to calm down. “Well, we still need to deal with that thing,” she grimaces and turns away from her scolded employee. He is already decided not to return for their next expedition, no need to abuse her vocal chords. He can go back to his nice and safe assassinations and extortions as soon as they are finished here in Peru.

“Just... stay out of danger so no-one has to drag your petrified ass out. I'm not losing any of my men over something so stupid!” She sees Kid from the corner of her eye, arms crossed and nodding sagely.

“So what now, madame?” Pierre asks after a moment of silence. “Should we try shooting it until it dies?”

“No, we might not even have enough bullets for that,” Natla shakes her head. “Who knows what lies ahead, so don't waste ammo. Once we're sure we can all _move_ , we'll inspect this cave, see where it takes us.”

Cowboy winces, seeing this as a jab at him, but Natla only has eyes for Kold, hunched and leaning on the uneven cave wall.

“How is it?”

“Just a scratch,” he says in a gruff voice and straightens without a blink.

“Of course,” his boss rolls her eyes.

“I'm fine,” he grits his teeth in annoyance.

She stares at him for a long moment and he stares back in a silent battle of wills. In the end Natla sighs and looks away. “If anything feels wrong, tell me immediately. That's an order,” she adds after it looks like he might argue.

Just then the dinosaur decides to face his dilemma head-on and jams itself jaw first into the cave opening. Everyone jumps away, most screaming, some swearing, some both.

It is one tense minute later when they finally feel sure the creature can't go any further, no matter how it tries, and so they are safe for the moment. Their legs might be a little shaky for a while though. Natla looks over at Kold; for him the shaking might just be the effort to stay on his feet with the injuries. She frowns disapprovingly.

“Do you remember dinosaurs?” Larson pulls her out of her thoughts. “Maybe when you were a kid or somethin'?”

“The era of dinosaurs ended sixty-six million years ago,” Pierre points out, doubtful.

Natla nods. “Millions of years before Atlantis was founded.”

“Seriously?” Larson blinks disbelievingly. “They've been dead that long?”

“Normally I would say yes,” Natla answers, “but there is some evidence very strongly trying to prove us otherwise.”

“I think it's just trying to eat us!” Kid says, eyes following the humongous jaw snapping uselessly at the air, and then runs deeper down the passageway with a mumbled “not gonna wait around for that.”

A moment later, the rest of the group hears a dinosaur's screech and Kid's loud “Shiiiiiiit!!!” carried over the sound of his uzis. The rest hurries over with varying levels of wariness. Kold, despite having been the closest to the entrance, is inexplicably in the lead, brandishing his hunting knife once again. But before they get far enough, there's a victorious whoop.

“Fuck yeah! Who's the boss now, motherfucker?!” His head pops from a tunnel at the left side of the cavern, “You're the boss, boss, of course,” he says to Natla. Then makes a pause. “But I killed a fucking dinosaur!” he exclaims in still somewhat disbelieving excitement.

“Good,” Natla says sharply, “now try not to run ahead again. We don't know what is waiting for us.”

Kid swings his right hand up, resting the uzi on his shoulder. “If it's dinosaurs, I'll deal with it.”

“Quite courageous, oui?” Pierre says. “After only killing one.”

“That's still one more than you,” Kid throws back.

“I want to kill a dinosaur too,” Larson pouts.

“All this enthusiasm, let's hope it lasts,” Natla drawls and walks past Kid to look at the corpse. It's a raptor again, as those outside.

“Can't be that hard,” Larson mumbles next to her, pulls out his gun and with the step of an experienced hunter treads ahead. The path goes up and down, then opens into a wider area and leads left, only to end up as another exit from the cavern. But this one is wider and – more importantly – several metres above ground.

The whole group fits in here comfortably, overlooking the spacious grassy area with the prowling T-Rex that cannot reach them now.

“There were no other tunnels or exits along the way,” Cowboy speaks up tentatively, “we're safe here.”

“Or we're trapped here,” Pierre points out.

“Both,” Natla says, looks around, up and down, and pulls out her cellphone to check the signal. There is actually… one bar appearing and disappearing erratically. “Well, look at that,” she murmurs. She turns to her employees: “We'll need to explore this place, there's nowhere else to go. Brainstorm some ideas while I make this phone call.”

Pierre crosses his arms. “If we distract it, it might be possible to just outrun the Tyrannosaur… maybe...”

“Right, then go ahead,” Cowboy says under his breath.

“Pardon?” Pierre looks at him.

“I'm not gonna follow this _genius_ idea,” Cowboy says in a normal voice.

“Of course you're not, you don't seem very good at running,” Pierre points his nose up, eyes closed.

“So sorry for not usually meeting huge monsters!”

“Shut up, ya fuckers!” Kid bursts into the oncoming argument, “I don't give a fuck about your shitting match!”

“I want to shoot a dinosaur!” Larson adds.

“Not a priority, dear,” Pierre answers him distractedly while glaring daggers at Cowboy.

Kold makes a few steps towards the group of four and they fall silent at once. He turns his eyes at Pierre, who gulps loudly. “Distraction, huh?”

“Errr, yes?” Pierre confirms faintly. It feels rather crowded in the cavern all of a sudden. And it's not like they didn't spend most of the previous day in close proximity to Kold, but his presence seems rather more pronounced at the moment. Maybe it's the calculating gaze instead of a bloodthirsty one.

Now that's a worrying order of priorities.

Kold nods, glances back at Natla, who seems busy trying to talk to someone through the faint signal, and folds his arms. “Could work.”

Kid squints at his injuries with a smirk. “Boss will chew your ass when she hears.”

Kold sweeps his knife at the boy, who avoids it nimbly. “Hey!”

“Well, well then,” Pierre breathes out now that Kold tried to skewer Kid and therefore everything is back to normal, “me and Larson will explore the surroundings and search for any clues. That is what we are here for, after all,” he straightens his jacket with a tug.

“Maybe we'll find more dinosaurs!” Larson pats his gun eagerly.

Pierre sighs and then throws a dirty look at Kid. “What?” the youngest member of the expedition smirks. “'S not my fault I'm so awesome he wanna catch up to me.”

“Catch up?” Larson says. “I'll kill more than you did!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“Mon dieu,” Pierre covers his face with his palm.

As Pierre, Larson, Kid and Kold walk away, Cowboy is standing there watching them. He has no part in this plan. He opens his mouth, halfway to asking if he could help, but determinedly shuts it again. He has good reasons for not participating. It's crazy and suicidal and-

“If shit goes down, you're back-up,” Kold growls into his ear and when Cowboy startles and whips to look at his face, he can see Kold's typical toothy grin.

Hell no. He's not a back-up for anything, much less suicidal plans. They can all go to hell for all he cares, if any of them die on this expedition it'll be only their own fault. _Or yours_ , a voice resembling Pierre's reminds him nastily. Cowboy shudders but stays where he is.

Kid is dragged kicking and screaming – quite literally – to help with the distraction. He calms down considerably when he realizes annoying the T-Rex with bullets from a safe location might be enough. His skateboard wouldn't work on the wet grass and so his mobility isn't that great, if still much higher than Kold's.

The big man decides on a more dangerous position, a bait, although with the intention to back away into the cave should the dinosaur come too close. He adds the second point only after the meaningful looks Kid keeps throwing him while jerking his head towards the boss.

Pierre and Larson are at the ground-level entrance, prepared to run to the unexplored section of the valley once the predator is distracted. Presumably extinct creatures aside, this feels quite normal for their job, which has a certain calming effect.

Cowboy stands inside the cave. He watches his boss by the upper entrance and ignores any sounds from the outside. He's going to stay nice and safe where he is.

* * *

 

Natla is peripherally aware of the rest talking. She did tell them to brainstorm in the meanwhile, after all, so she's glad they're at least trying to follow her orders instead straight up killing each other. After all that happened the last two days, she's a bit wary of leaving them out of her supervision, but between Cowboy's self-preservation, Pierre's worry over Larson, everyone's shock over seeing Kold actually hurt and their combined not-actually-completely-awful intelligence… well, she's reasonably sure they won't do anything stupid. There is soon shouting and shooting but really, they're _not_ killing each other, probably. Maybe they found more dinosaurs.

She really needs to deal with this unexpected business proposal and she can't do it without all the facts. Maybe having the documents read to her isn't the most effective idea, but with this connection, not even her tech can hope to receive so much text. And maybe she should just let to the people she left in charge do their job but if something goes wrong, it'll be her mess to clean up. If she's capable of doing something herself, she much prefers to do so rather than cry over spilled milk later.

It takes only about ten minutes of her talking with the acting CEO when she sees a blur run past her. She recognizes it as Cowboy when he jumps from the elevated cave entrance and with a holler lands straight on the T-Rex's back.

* * *

 

This is a bad idea. A very bad idea. He's going to die. He was _safe_ but then he just had to look out to watch how others were doing.

Kold and Kid were pretty good at distracting and he could soon see Larson and Pierre running back, wet but with an air of victory, Pierre clutching something round in his hand. They disappeared to the left, to the ground-level entrance, and any distracting manoeuvres ended for a moment. They resumed shortly before the two explorers sprinted out and disappeared again into the distant darkness, accompanied by the T-Rex's angered roars.

Soon another round object was carried back, Larson whooping about “killing more dinos” and both dripping water all anew. When they ran off again, there was nothing to see for a while, just the T-Rex prowling around with nothing to distract him at the moment.

Finally there was movement to the left. Cowboy needed to strain his eyes a little to recognize the two figures standing on the farther half of a broken bridge. Which they would need to jump over to proceed.

Jump. Bridge. Pierre. Crippling fear of heights.

Quite understandably, only Larson jumped, ran forward – and there was a happy cry from him a moment later. He returned on the bridge waving something in his hand and did a running jump back to Pierre's side.

Maybe it was the slippery surface, maybe a wrong step, maybe just bad luck. But it was clear from the moment Larson took off that he wouldn't make it.

Pierre was extending his hand towards him, clinging to the bridge crouched down. Their fingers met and even though the distance wouldn't allow Cowboy to see the details, he could clearly imagine Larson's fingers slowly slipping from Pierre's grip one by one.

The T-Rex was once again occupied by Kid's uzis, but almost right under the bridge. Larson would fall just in front of his snout.

Which, with a faint thud, he did.

He didn't look very hurt and in a sharp moment of clarity immediately knew to run. He avoided the predator's snapping jaw with a roll between its legs and continued to the right, where Cowboy couldn't see any cave openings from where he stood.

The T-Rex was definitely faster than Larson, if he didn't find a hiding place fast, the sharp teeth would eventually reach their prey. They were glistening with drool as the maw was opening again, closing in on the blond.

Cowboy didn't have to do anything. Actually his last order from the boss was to _avoid_ danger. No-one else was really in a good position to do anything but he had _told_ them this was a stupid plan.

And wait, was _he_ in a good position? Where had that thought come from? Yes, he had imagined what he could do but it was crazy and suicidal and Larson's screams were getting closer and all Cowboy knew was that his legs moved on his own. Making quick backwards steps for a run-up he sprinted forward with the one fixed idea of preventing the teeth from meeting Larson's torso.

And that's how he ended up clutching the thick scaly neck of a humongous lizard, screaming but not letting go because now it's not just Larson's, but also his own life at stake and that at least is something that he is used to trying to protect. Just… no freezing this time. He can't. The shock is over, everything is clear, he must deal with the situation at hand without panicking.

He realizes he's still screaming.

Or at least without panicking _much_.

He struggles to keep his hold and soon finds a comfortable purchase. If it wasn't for the height and the unholy roars, it wouldn't be actually that much different from a rodeo. And _that_ 's something Cowboy has experience with.

The dinosaur makes a sharp turn, whips its tail around and shakes its whole body to get rid of its unwelcome passenger, even hits the rocky wall with its flank, but it's for naught. Cowboy laughs, lets go with one hand and whoops.

“Oooh, looks fun!” Larson calls from behind them. The T-Rex turns to the sound of his voice and Cowboy curses in his mind. There's a shout from another side, belonging to Kold, who's standing next to Kid in the ground entrance. The predator turns again, but only halfway, undecided.

“Come here, you fucking ugly lizard!” Kid shouts and sends an array of bullets at it for good measure.

“Hey!” Cowboy ducks low to avoid them. Kid can spray his enemies with bullets without much aiming and usually it's enough, but with Cowboy in the line of fire, he'd much prefer someone else to give it a try. It's not like he's getting off the beast without incapacitating it in some way.

Oh. Yeah, alright, so the panic is back. Not at the same level but oh golly was this a bad idea. He was so focused on what he'd done that he didn't stop to think about what he'd do after and now he's going to get shot by his own colleague or thrown off and eaten by the T-Rex unless he convinces the man he's accidentally almost killed to help him out. And… while he doesn't think Larson is an especially vindictive person, what if he _purposefully_ aims at _him_ instead?

No matter. No choice.

“Well, that better work,” Cowboy mumbles and turns his head to find Larson, standing by one of the walls with no hiding place in easy reach. “Larson!” he calls. “Shoot his eyes!”

“The fuck, I can do that!” Kid shouts offended.

“Someone with a better shot, please!” Cowboy responds loudly.

“I dunno, I ain't that good,” Larson wavers. His gun is out, but that's to be expected considering the immediate danger. The dinosaur moves towards his voice and Kid swears loudly at the beast to redirect its attention again.

“You are! You are the best shot of all of us here!” Cowboy hollers with growing panic.

“I am?” Larson wonders. “You always say yer better.” Kid gives a wordless shout and waves his hands as the T-Rex starts turning back to Larson.

“Because I'd like to be!” Cowboy wails as he slips a little and has to find another purchase. “But I'm not! I miss! You don't!”

“Really?” Larson blinks.

The T-Rex is done being indecisive, apparently, as it ignores Kids voice, weakened by its use by now, and turns around again to make its way towards Larson. That's bad. On the other hand, Larson has a good view of his target, if he agrees to take the shot.

There are two gunshots in quick succession and the dinosaur makes his loudest roar yet, long-drawn and uneven as it trashes widely, ramming into walls without care – and without sight. It throws its head back and then forward and down, close to the ground. Cowboy can't hold on any more and half-slips, half is thrown-off the creature's neck. Before he can hit the ground, something grabs him by the back of his collar and flings him into the elevated cave entrance with growled “Outta the way!”

He falls face first next to his boss and dazedly looks back to see Kold jamming the large hunting knife into the dinosaur's head through the roof of its mouth.

The man pulls back, taking the knife with him. The weapon and his whole arm are covered in dark blood. The T-Rex stumbles once, gives one last roar and collapses to the side, shaking the ground as its body hits the wet grass. Its head gives an agonized jerk and stills.

There are ten seconds during which no-one moves, no-one speaks, no-one dares to breath as all eyes are trained on the felled beast.

“Hooolly shit,” Kid says a little weakly as he slumps by the ground-level entrance. There's a scramble high above and Pierre is seen running from the bridge the way he came. Not a minute later he's down in the valley, running towards Larson who is still standing on the spot from which he took the two shots.

“Mon amour!” Pierre throws his arms around his lover and embraces him tightly, his whole body shaking.

Larson hugs him back happily, the adrenaline wearing off and making him a little weary. “Hey, Pierre,” he mumbles. “Just r'membered something...”

“Yes?” Pierre pulls back a little to look into Larson's face but not letting go.

“Whassa nec- necrophiliac?”

Kid bursts out laughing and falls the rest of the way to the ground, giggling madly. Kold also barks out a laugh, whipping his arm to get rid of the blood.

Natla, who's somehow kept half an ear on the phone while stiffly watching the whole T-Rex incident, groans, pinches the bridge of her nose, mutters “deal with the rest” into the phone and hangs up. She makes her way to the ground-level entrance and Cowboy follows her for lack of anything better to do, scratched and bruised from the whole ordeal.

When they come out, Pierre is answering Larson with the patient tone of someone used to strange questions. Though he seems rather distracted and keeps looking Larson over for any injuries, touching him frequently to reassure himself that the blond is safe and whole.

Kid and Kold turn towards Natla, Kid scrambling to his feet and Kold giving her a once over to make sure she is unhurt. That makes her roll her eyes and then narrow them at him accusingly.

He merely shrugs as if saying “It worked, didn't it?” and refuses any guilt.

Natla crosses her arms and gives him another sharp look, then walks over to the T-Rex's corpse. All her employees slowly gravitate towards it too, looking it over with varying amounts of apprehension and curiosity.

“I hope you have any bullets left,” Natla says finally.

Kid makes a sound of hesitation, checking over his ammo clips, but Larson puff out his chest proudly: “I only used two!”

“You were amazing, darling,” Pierre squeezes his hand.

“And almost eaten,” Kold gives them a malicious grin.

“That's not amusing,” Pierre says coldly.

Kold keeps up the ugly smile. “Sad you couldn't save your damsel this time?”

“You were quite useless up there,” Natla agrees.

“But miss Natla,” Pierre defends quickly, “you know of my fear of heights! There… there was nothing I could do!”

“So you were frozen with fear,” Cowboy adds helpfully.

“Exactly,” Pierre latches on it, “I was-” then the meaning of the words and the identity of the one saying them truly registers.

Pierre levels Cowboy with a defiant glare, although it's wavering. He feels a movement at his side and sees Larson scratch his head, giving Cowboy a lopsided grin. “Uh, right, thanks fer savin' ma neck. That was pretty amazing!”

“Oui,” Pierre sighs and averts his gaze, then meets Cowboy's eyes again, managing a more friendlier expression. “You saved Larson. Thank you.”

Cowboy just nods in response, not really sure how to react to this unexpected gratitude.

“So that evens it out, right?” Kid decides to speak up. “'Cause he almost killed him earlier?”

Both Pierre and Cowboy tense.

“You interested in death?” Kold murmurs from behind Kid and slashes with his knife, making the boy jump away at the last moment.

“What the fuck? Leave me the fuck alone! Ain't you dying yourself with all that blood anyway?” Kid yelps as he scrambles around.

Natla watches it for a short while before deciding Kid is punished enough and exclaims: “No-one is dying today. Stop clowning around.”

Kold stops trying to stab Kid's ankles as the boy stands higher up on a narrow ledge, his back pressed to the rock wall of the valley, and returns to his boss' side. Kid follows tentatively after a few seconds, grabbing something from the ground on the way.

“Oh, it's the wheel I dropped!” Larson exclaims.

“A cog to the mechanism?” Natla studies the object with interest.

“We found three of them, miss Natla,” Pierre announces and jogs to the cave entrance to retrieve the other two from where he left them.

“And we killed lots of dinosaurs too,” Larson brags, mainly to Kid.

“Yeah well I didn't see it,” Kid crosses his arms. Larson doesn't let that stand:

“I can show you! They're all lying there and-”

“We all believe you,” Natla interrupts him in a tired voice. “The three cogs is exactly what we needed. So despite this horrible plan you didn't even deign to discuss with me,” she addresses them all in an accusing voice, “it actually didn't end up in a disaster. It was close, but it didn't. So good work.”

The last sentence sounds more long-suffering than anything, but she makes sure to meet Cowboy's gaze to let him know it's definitely meant for him too. He looks surprised but happy, averting his eyes in embarrassment. Larson and Kid beam at the praise, Pierre is quietly satisfied and Kold snorts softly, cleaning his knife with a piece of cloth.

It's hardly noon, but Natla marches them all into their last night camp and orders them to treat their wounds and rest.

“We're in no hurry now,” she says when she sees Pierre glancing longingly in the direction of the lake. “We have the cogs, so we know a way forward, but we have no idea what awaits us there. I don't like how well protected the passage is.”

“Do you mean...” Pierre looks at her with wide eyes. He straight-out radiates excitement now, that certainly wasn't her intention. “...that it might be the entrance into the tomb itself?”

“It's possible,” she admits. “But you're all getting a damn rest first! And me too. I'm _mentally_ drained, I'm going to have nightmares of you five doing something unauthorized and unsupervised.”

If she weren't so exasperated, she'd probably find it amusing how all of them, Kold included, react to her statement with their own version of a pout. But she is serious. She doesn't need that kind of surprises, to turn around and find her hand-picked group of employees almost killed by their ideas. Somehow it ended up with Cowboy growing a backbone and earning grudging respect from Pierre after it seemed the rapport they had had before has been irreparably shattered, but maybe there would have been less stress inducing ways to achieve this.

And she didn't even have time to deal with the company business. She could climb back to the elevated cave entrance but… no. She's done. They have some instructions and if they still screw it up, she'll just fire those responsible and cry over the proverbial spilled milk in the peace and quiet of her office.

* * *

 

In the end, the treating of every injury, mostly Kold's and Cowboy's, resting, eating and inevitable bickering takes them the rest of the day. No-one seems to mind overmuch as the adrenaline rush has left them weary.

Larson and Pierre disappear back into the valley for an hour or so, claiming to have found a really nice place they would like to explore in peace now that there's no danger. Natla is doubtful about the “no danger” claim and doesn't exactly approve of anyone leaving the group, but she lets them go. Goodness knows they've probably done lots of things in far more dangerous places.

When the darkness starts falling and they all gather around the campfire for dinner, Cowboy is much more included in the group. He's just retelling the “dinosaur rodeo” for the third time at Larson's request – with Kid's frequent additions that it was actually him who saved Larson by distracting the T-Rex while those two Southerners were babbling. Pierre smiles warmly at Larson, not particularly enjoying hearing about those horrifying moments again but happy that Larson is now safe and having a good time. By the end of the story he nods at Cowboy: “I do need to thank you again, mon ami. At that moment, it… it was very courageous of you.”

Cowboy tips his hat at him and smiles. “My pleasure.”

Kold doesn't participate in the discussion much, he fell asleep shortly after he and Natla treated his injuries – no-one else really dared to offer help – and seemed only halfway awake for the dinner.

When the food is gone and they all go to sleep, Natla briefly hopes no new wolves appear from unknown places because Kold isn't going to be woken up by anything this night. But it doesn't last long before she falls asleep too.

* * *

 

She wakes up when it's still mostly dark, although it's never truly daylight in this cave complex. She checks over the rest. Finding an appropriate amount of human shaped lumps, she gets up and walks over to the lake. Her instincts tell her it's close to morning but she wouldn't be able to fall asleep again. If it's truly Qualopec's tomb behind the waterfall… oh, she's so close!

She would be lying if she said she didn't want to run there right then and there after they returned with the cogs, just like Pierre wanted. But she didn't get to be a queen and a CEO of a large company by making rash decisions. And yes, everyone will be still hurt or at least banged up this morning, but some rest goes a long way towards preventing inadequate work performances in life-or-death situations.

There are steps behind her and she doesn't have to turn to recognize them. “What exactly was that plan yesterday?” she asks, faintly amused now that it's not so fresh anymore. “Did you arrange for Cowboy having to save Larson, proving he's capable of being useful?”

“You heard the whole story yesterday. Three times,” Kold says as he joins her by the shore.

Natla throws him a knowing look and he snorts.

“Not really,” Kold finally admits. “That was just luck. I did tell him he was back-up if something really bad happened though.”

“And you thought heaping this responsibility on him would work? Coupled with his worry about being injured?”

“I'm not his boss, it wasn't an order,” Kold shrugs. “He was clearly disheartened by no-one expecting much of anything from him. He needs to see he's invited to participate.”

Natla tilts her head to the side, considering it. “But he's also worried about failure.”

“That's why no-one but him heard me say it. The rest didn't expect him to do anything.”

“Yes, that could do the trick,” Natla says wryly. Then she runs her fingers through her hair, looking over the rippling black water. “Though most of the time there really isn't that much for him to do. He's just here because he's good in general, good physical shape, excellent weapon prowess, acceptable level of critical thinking…”

“You don't need to tell _me_ that.”

“Well, it's not like he doesn't know of my reasons either.”

“Yet he still feels like a fifth wheel.”

Natla sighs and rolls her eyes. “How much easier would everything be if I didn't have to care about my employees' feelings.”

Kold just chuckles at that. “I'm sure.”

Natla throws him a critical look. “So how do you feel? _Physically_ ,” she adds with a theatrical emphasis that makes him chuckle all anew.

“I wouldn't enjoy another T-Rex,” he admits grudgingly, “at least for the next few days.” Then he shoots her his typical bloodthirsty grin. “But anything else is fine.”

“Good,” she smiles back fondly.

* * *

 

About an hour later, there is noise coming from the direction of the camp. Natla and Kold have decided to sit on the rock steps leading up the waterfall and now they turn without any surprise towards the commotion.

“'Bout time,” Kold comments as they hear something crash and then painful swearing.

Natla checks her phone. It's half past six. “Let's get some breakfast before they make a mess of everything.”

The breakfast turns out to be a relatively quiet affair. The knowledge of them all surviving almost miraculously has settled in and at the same time there's excitement about the potential tomb entrance. Excitement mixed with apprehension. Kid's mumbled “I kinda really wanna see what's there but I also really fucking don't,” sums up most of their feelings.

Still, when they are packed and ready, all of them insist on seeing the mechanism and so the trip upstream takes them five times as long as when it was just Natla and Kold. They only have to fish Larson and Kid out of the water once each.

“I thought it would be bigger,” Larson grumbles when they finally cross the bridge and arrive by the gear train.

“This is an ancient mechanism, my dear,” Pierre says, “It's admirable they were able to build something this sophisticated at all.”

“So it's 'cause it's old?” Larson asks. “Should've waited like… ten years… before building it.”

“Yes, I'm sure then the cogs would be bigger than us and covering the whole cavern wall downstream,” Cowboy rolls his eyes.

Natla spares one relieved thought on Pierre having no negative reaction to Cowboy making fun of Larson – if it were yesterday, there would already be a shouting match – and busies herself by placing the gears in its places.

“Let's hope it works,” she says and without waiting any longer pulls the lever. The cogs start to turn and there's a rush of water that's almost deafening.

“It does!” Pierre exclaims, pointing to the stream which is now blocked by a golden gate and rerouted to a canal branching to the left.

Natla releases a breath she didn't know she's been holding. “Let's go.”

They're soon back at the bank of the lake, watching the revealed entrance.

“It'd kinda suck if there was nothing behind it, right?” Kid says and Kold hits him over the head. “Ow! Fuck off!”

Pierre sighs. “Expecting a bridge over the lake would be probably too much, oui?”

Natla doesn't really listen to them, her eyes locked on the unimpressive hole leading into darkness. They're close, she knows it. Without a word, she dives into the lake and swims, leaving the rest to follow her.

“Boss, you shouldn't go first,” Kold says when he finally climbs out of the water, last one but just behind Cowboy.

“Possibly,” Natla sighs but lets him take the lead. There's a short narrow path leading to a door which opens by itself when they come close.

“Cool!” Larson exclaims. When they all walk through, the door closes again.

“Less cool,” Kid rubs him arms.

But they all hurry forward, because if they don't their boss _will_ take the lead, regardless of traps and wild animals. That's fine. As long as there's not another T-Rex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, that's right. The reason Cowboy wasn't in Anniversary was because Eidos fired him after he revealed spoilers about the appearance of the cog mechanism. Mystery solved.
> 
> And if you feel like there is a second, untagged couple here... It was unintentional, but with the last few chapters I'm seriously considering making in official. Is the "bodyguard and his boss" trope too cliché? Well, I'll see where it'll go yet.


	4. Tomb of Qualopec

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natla and her henchmen finally enter the tomb. And while there might be traps to be dealt with, it might not be the greatest obstacle in succesfully accomplishing their objective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been sitting on this chapter for months and while there were many tiny rewrites I just... can't read it again for the hundredth time. I'm still not completely happy with it and I'm quite worried/curious about what you might say, so please feel free to speak your mind. Anything you might or might not like, I'd love to hear it.
> 
> Also this chapter was supposed to be longer but then I decided to cut it, so the next chapter (or maybe two?) will be basically in place of the cutscenes that'd be happening in TR1 after this level.
> 
> The credit for Pierre souding actually kind of smart goes to this amazing website: https://archaeologyoftombraider.com/2013/04/11/arte-factual-tomb-raider-i-chimu-bird-carving/

Kold takes the lead, brandishing his knife. Pierre is right behind him and vibrates with excitement about what they might discover, Larson walking by his side. Natla follows closely, her own excitement no lesser, and Kid and Cowboy hang a few steps back in the narrow passageway.

There is a turn to the right, then to the left, and then-

“Guess we're somewhere,” Kold states.

“It's… it's wonderful!” Pierre breathes.

“Huh, pretty,” Larson adds.

Natla finally gets past them and steps into the room they've been commenting on. She takes one look around. “Oh my eyes. It _burns_.”

She doesn't sound to be in actual pain so the rest just looks at her in curiosity. She throws them a look of disbelief but then elaborates: “The decorations? _The colours_?”

“It's… nice?” Cowboy tries.

Natla gives up and just waves her hand. “Well, the good news is we are on the right track. The bright orange and pink combination has Qualopec written all over it.”

“And the floor is great!” Kid calls and makes circles around them on his skateboard.

Pierre watches him. “Merci for making sure there are no hidden traps in the room.”

“Shit!” Kid makes a sharp turn and comes back, braking abruptly by the entrance, then glares at the floor accusingly.

“Let's look around,” Natla orders, “carefully.”

“There's a lever!” Larson calls almost immediately.

“Don't pull it!” “Don't touch it!” “Leave it be!” Voices shout one over another.

Larson backs away with his arms raised. “Damn, fine, fine!” A pause. “Why not?”

“Later, mon cher, we should know our surroundings first,” Pierre consoles him and turns back to a gate he's been investigating. “There are three gates in a row,” he turns to Natla, “each with a different motif. I'm quite sure all of them were among the motifs in the mountainside, at the top of the very first gate. See this, the Chimú bird-”

“Neeerd!” Kid shouts and avoids a sweep of Kold's knife. Pierre huffs in affront and crosses his arms.

“I'm sure this is all fascinating,” Natla tells the treasure hunter, “but does it help us figure out how to open them?”

“Well,” Pierre pauses and glances back at the gates. “Not in any way I can think of.”

“Ha!” Kid laughs as he skates by. “So, how 'bout this one?” He points at the very obvious hallway opposite to the one they came in. It leads upwards and disappears in shadows.

“Exquisite find,” Pierre informs him haughtily, “feel free to go first.”

“Yeah no fucking way,” Kid stops by the side. “What's there?”

“Who knows,” Pierre shrugs.

“Then why should I go first?”

“You found it,” Pierre's eyes widen in innocence.

“'Kay, what the fuck's the deal here?” Kid asks no-one in particular.

Pierre finally takes mercy upon him. “If this room isn't, then the hallway surely is booby trapped in some way.”

Kid throws up his hands. “I figured that shit out! But like, something concrete? We're gonna go there anyway.”

“Why?” Cowboy asks.

“'Cause it's the only fucking way?”

“There's still the lever!” Larson calls helpfully and pulls it. A hidden door opens in the right wall.

Everyone whirls around to him.

“Ain't it later yet?” he asks.

They don't have time to answer as stomping feet announce incoming predators. Kold skewers the first dinosaur in one blow, the second is killed by a spray of different kinds of ammo.

“Yeah! Fuck! Fine! I forgot 'bout that one!” Kid gestures widely towards the lever with one of his guns.

“Hey, you're welcome,” Larson grins at him. From anyone else it would be in mockery, but Larson… well, Larson is Larson. The others decide not to waste their breath commenting.

Kold steps into the newly opened door, Pierre right behind him and the rest follows. It's a short walk and they end up in another square room, just as brightly painted as the previous one.

“There they are!” Pierre exclaims, turning around his axis. “Miss Natla, these three motifs are the same as the ones on the gates!”

Natla overlooks the carvings etched above each of the three passageways they can proceed through. “So with any luck, there will be a way to open each of the gates at the end of the corridors,” she says, “unless it's all one big trap.”

Pierre gulps audibly. “Hopefully not. Of course, there is still that one other way we can try...”

“Maybe we should,” Natla taps her chin. “Just to be sure. This might be a maze for all we know. A maze with dinosaurs.”

After a moment of deliberation, they walk back and stand by the mystery hallway. No-one really wants to go first.

“Do you see anything?” Natla turns to Pierre.

“Hmm, non,” he inspects the walls and the floor from a safe distance. “It is a little dark, admittedly.”

“Do ya need a flashlight?” Cowboy rummages in the backpack. “We also have some flares and… candles and… a lantern?” he turns to Kid.

“I fucking asked you what to take and you said a few of everything, so fuck off,” Kid crosses his arms.

“How much useless shit do we carry?” Kold sweeps a knife at the boy.

“I don't fucking know,” Kid jumps away, “I never packed for fucking camping, how should I know this shit?”

“Alright, this is a lesson for next time,” Natla steps in with a put-upon sigh. “Pierre, take whatever you need, just let's get a move on.”

Pierre chooses a flare and slowly, carefully makes his way forward and into the passage. “There is not much of anything,” he calls, his steps a little surer. Then he stops at once. “Oh.”

“What is there?” Natla asks.

“I-I think I see it.”

“See what?”

“The… Scion.”

“What?!” Natla draws herself up and makes one step forward before stopping herself. A trap. _Definitely_ a trap.

“This is definitely a trap,” Pierre echoes her thoughts with a strangled voice.

“Pierre?” Larson calls and it's a mixture of inquiring and worried.

“Just a moment, darling, a moment,” Pierre says, making another two steps.

The gate to the Scion slams shut. Nothing he didn't expect, but still, there should be-

He sees it the exact moment before it falls down from its resting place with a thud. Pierre whips around and sprints all the way back, where he makes a sharp turn. A boulder passes him by the ankles, rolls through the room and ends in the passageway that leads outside.

“Fuck okay, that's new,” Kid comments from where he's standing behind Natla, peeking over her shoulder. They are all standing by the walls, far from the sloping passage.

“Well,” Pierre breathes with his hands on his knees, “well, that was…” he straightens up, “easy.”

“Easy?” Cowboy repeats.

“One rolling boulder with no other traps or barriers when you try to escape it? Oui, it is.”

“We see this stuff all the time!” Larson nods eagerly. “But with spikes and pits and spikes in pits...”

“Oh golly,” Cowboy peeks into the passageway. “Should we expect that here too?”

“Expect anything,” Natla says. “But at least our path is obvious now. If the shortest way to the Scion is closed, we need to open these three gates.”

Everyone walks back to the room with the carvings. “Where to first?” Natla asks Pierre.

“I don't think it really matters in this case,” the treasure hunter admits. “Whichever you want.”

“Let's try this one,” Natla nods at the entrance with the Chimú bird.

Kold goes first again, but the walk is short and safe. The corridor ends in a room with a lever and an opening into another room with its floor far below them. Pierre walks to the edge with careful steps to take a look around. “Several entrances, one on the ground level. Two pillars. And… hm, in the opening over there we can see the Chimú bird, that might be our destination...”

“So it's really a fucking maze?” Kid wails.

“Who knows yet,” Pierre says and points to the right without looking there. “Try pulling the lever.”

Kid gazes at him suspiciously but then walks over and does as he's told.

“Brilliant,” Pierre turns to the rest and smiles. “It moved one pillar to the side. We can assume the pillars need to be in a certain position to allow us to jump across them and towards the other lever.”

Kold walks up to him and looks at the opening with the bird painting. “You don't need that shit.”

“I'm sorry?” Pierre bristles in offense. “It's clearly designed to-”

“Whatever,” Kold doesn't let him finish. “Kid!” he jerks his head at the youngest member to follow him and then jumps down into the room.

“Fuck no!” Kid shouts after him. He walks towards the edge and peers down. Yeah, alright, it's not very high, that would explain why Pierre feels comfortable standing right there. But it's not the problem here. The problem is what Kold is planning to do when – no, no, _if –_ Kid jumps down.

“Move you ass!” Kold orders him.

Kid pays him no mind, having just noticed spikes in one section of the floor. And an opening above them. An opening with a _bird_. “Which fucking place you wanna get to?” he asks in apprehension and Pierre helpfully points to it.

The one above the spikes, of course.

“Yeah fuck off, no fucking way!” Kid screeches at Kold.

Natla also walks over to the edge. “It's not far, there should be no problem.”

“Boss!” Kid whines.

Larson and Cowboy also come over, trying to get a look over their heads.

“Hey, it's small here, fuck off!” Kid shoves Larson.

“Quit stalling, Kid!” Natla pushes him off the edge.

“Boss!” Kid squeaks and falls down, where he's caught by Kold before he can manage more than a few steps to escape.

“Fuck,” he mumbles before he's launched over the sharp metal stakes and into the opening. “Fucking… fuck,” he repeats.

“Anything interesting there?” Natla shouts back.

“That's not-” Kid starts. “A lever,” he says then.

“Then pull it,” Natla says and gets an answering hum in return. “Go check the gates,” she turns to the rest.

“Yes, ma'am,” Pierre says and runs back with Larson. There's some shooting and a dinosaur screech and they return shortly after with good news. “The first gate is open!”

“And I killed another dinosaur!” Larson grins.

Natla nods. “Good. Get back here, Kid.”

Kid mutters something, not loud enough for them to hear.

“Kid, move your ass or we'll leave you here.” Natla raises her voice.

“I just...” Kid starts, and it sounds oddly weak. “Don't wanna.”

Natla and Kold exchange a look that contains a whole conversation. She frowns. He looks towards Kid, then the others. She grimaces. He rises an eyebrow. It takes a moment but then she rolls her eyes.

Natla breaks the eye contact with a huff and drops down into the room. “Pierre, Larson, Cowboy,” she calls, “take a break. Or try to open the other two gates if you're _really_ careful, just leave us alone for a while.”

With a bit of confusion, they nod and take their leave.

“Kid?” Natla calls when they are alone. “What's going on? Did you get hurt when you landed? Do you feel any side effects-”

“There's nothing wrong with my body,” Kid interrupts her. “No more than usual,” he adds sullenly.

“Then what is it?” Natla demands.

There's only silence, so Kold speaks up: “Should I leave?”

“What?” Kid's head pokes out from the opening, the expression one of an honest surprise. “No!”

“So?” Natla tries again.

“It's…” Kid wavers for a few seconds, not meeting her eyes. “It's stupid,” he shrugs and pulls back from their view. But if Natla can judge from the distance, there was a glossy sheen in his eyes for a moment. Oh. Damn. She's so not suited for this. And why now? Why so suddenly? Just… just what.

“If we agree it's stupid, will it make you come down?” she tries a bit of humour in hope it's not as serious as it might seem.

There's no answer. Kold gives her a disappointed look. It makes her feel defensive but the much stronger feeling of _having no idea what's happening and what she should do_ definitely overpowers it.

“You wouldn't act like that if you thought it's stupid,” Kold says.

“But you'll think that,” Kid murmurs sullenly. The two standing below need to step as close as they can to the spikes to hear him.

“Let us be the judge of that,” Kold counters.

There's a deep intake of breath, a sound that just seems to be forming into a syllable, and then nothing. A few seconds later it repeats and on the third try words finally come out. “I just didn't expect that, I guess…”

“Expect what?” Natla asks quickly and Kid gives another aborted sound before falling quiet again. Kold sends her another look. She just shrugs at him with wide eyes. What did she do wrong this time?

He raises both eyebrows at her. Really?

She jerks her chin. What?

He inclines his head, eyes turned upwards, as if listening – to the silence; then he meets her gaze again. This.

* * *

 

Cowboy walks after the two adventurers with a sigh. “We ain't gonna take a break, are we?”

“This is our job, mon ami,” Pierre struts into the passage with a stylized head engraved above it. “Mine and Larson's. We can show you how it's done, so we all work better on our next expedition. T'en fais pas.”

“Uh...” Cowboy slows down a bit.

“That means 'don't worry'!” Larson exclaims with a sureness that says he's been told and explained this before.

“Yes, ah, nice ta know,” Cowboy says. “But… I ain't goin' on the next one.”

The other two stop at once.

“Ehhh?” Larson makes a long face. “Miss Natla said you can't go?”

“That is a shame,” Pierre says slowly, “I would feel much better if you did go. If it weren't for you… Well, I am sure if we talk to Miss Natla, we could convince her.”

“Ah, no,” Cowboy feels inexplicably guilty admitting it, “I told her I don't want to.”

“Oh,” Pierre says while Larson just blinks in confusion, “I do suppose… it was quite dangerous for you too.”

Cowboy shrugs, “Ain't gonna argue with that.”

“But you have ta go!” Larson insists. “It's fun!”

“Mon cher, not everyone finds the same things fun.”

“Yeah well then we gotta show him, right?” Larson is all excited. They arrive into a smaller room with one block in the middle, the same stylized head depicted on all its sides. “What're we gonna do here?”

Pierre gives him a smile and then looks around. “We must find something. A hidden switch or a trapdoor… tell me if you see anything suspicious.” Then he turns to Cowboy. “We will make sure nothing dangerous befalls you here, do not worry.”

Cowboy nods at that uncertainly. He would welcome this assurance right from the beginning, but now that he hears it… it doesn't feel good, for some reason. It just brings back the feeling of uselessness that has left him after yesterday. Brilliant. He wishes for something and when he gets it, he's not satisfied anyway. Even when others mean well… How ungrateful they would think him if they could read his mind.

Cowboy decides. He will show them he's not useless, that yesterday it wasn't a fluke. He walks along the right wall and starts looking it over.

* * *

 

Natla and Kold let Kid be quiet for a minute. Then Natla starts opening her mouth again but a gentle elbow nudge stops her. It's another minute or so before Kid speaks again.

“It's just… f-fuck… I mean… Kold throws me around all the time, yeah?” he blurts out and keeps his pace now that he started. “He tries to stab me and gut me and I mean not really but like it's normal, yeah? And he pushed me in that bear pit a few days ago and fuck him for that but it's still normal and I-I expect it so it's fine but...” he stammers again and Natla bites her lip to prevent herself from urging him to continue. If she understands Kold's previous look, that apparently has the effect of shutting him up instead.

“So… so like, that's fine or – or if Frenchie did it or whatever then just like fuck who cares but like I really didn't expect you to do it, boss, so like… it's stupid yeah I… yeah...” Kid's voice peters out.

Yes, that _is_ kind of stupid, is Natla's first thought before she schools her expression – not fast enough, judging by Kold's disapproving stare.

Alright. She's spent a good part of her life in high politics, she has spoken in front of a whole nation. How hard can it be to say something right to a sixteen-year-old if she thinks about it for a bit?

But the problem is she still can't see the problem, not really.

“But this wasn't the first time,” she finally says and cringes, throwing a look at Kold to learn how bad that was.

He seems to be considering her response but doesn't have time to react more as Kid calls down in confusion: “Yeah it was.”

“No it wasn't,” Natla says. She needs to make sense of this, she needs to explain that it just doesn't add up. “I told Kold to throw you up the gate out on the mountain.”

Kid makes something between a groan and a whine. “That was Kold.”

“But my order.”

“So fucking what, he does what he wants, he's not a robot!”

Natla turns to Kold, her forehead scrunched. She's absolutely out of her depth. But he just shrugs one shoulder in agreement with Kid. She sighs noiselessly – how helpful.

“You've – you've never just-” Kid speaks up again but doesn't continue.

“I've never?” Natla tries to put it together. Does he simply mean- “I've never… done _physicall_ _y_ something you didn't like?”

“Well,” Kid sounds like he partly agrees. “Uhhh… well sometimes you shove me out the door and shit but like… never something like...”

“Nothing potentially dangerous?” Natla finishes and tenses when she realizes she's urging him to go on again, but apparently she does it right this time because Kid doesn't close up again.

“Uh, yeah,” he agrees weakly.

“Oh,” Natla responds in a soft voice. She turns to Kold again and he's staring back expectantly. Alright, he wants her to do something. Something in particular. But won't tell her what. Just great.

“Well, I – didn't mean for this to happen,” Natla says finally, unsure.

“It was an accident?” Kids voice is coloured with emotion Natla can't really decipher, not that she's surprised. It's still annoying how little is Kold helping. And also that she was misunderstood and needs to clear things up:

“No, I mean I didn't expect you to react like that.”

She hears a slap from her left and when she glances there, Kold has his face covered with his hand. She glares at him but it's not very effective when he can't see her. “Well what do you want me to say?” she tells him. “It's true. I didn't think he'd really care.”

Kold doesn't even twitch.

“Uh, yeah, I guess... It's fi-” Kid starts but now Kold moves, cutting him off: “No.”

Natla whirls at him with a bewildered, questioning expression. It could be over! Kid was about to say all was fine and they could move on from this place.

Oh, here is the disappointed face again. Well then why doesn't he help her, if he thinks she's so hopeless?

* * *

 

Larson decides to stomp on the ground. Pierre inspects the block in the middle, tries to push it but it doesn't budge. Larson climbs on top of it and stomps twice. When nothing happens, he sits down and looks over the ceiling, scratching his head.

Cowboy slowly makes it to the back wall. It all just looks the same to him. It might not be dangerous, but it's boring, and he didn't quite expect that. Pierre meanwhile replaces him at the right wall and puts all his weight on it in hopes of finding a hidden door.

“Hey, what's there?” Cowboy finally calls from the left wall. Larson looks down at him, picking his nose.

“Yes?” Pierre jogs over.

“Some kinda ring,” Cowboy gestures just above the ground, the anticipation nearly bursting form his chest. Did he do something useful?

“Excellent!” Pierre pats his back once. “This block must be movable, the ring is to pull it out!”

He did do something useful! Maybe he's not that bad at this after all.

“Where?” Larson asks, looking down on the block he's still sitting on.

“Right here,” Pierre points to the ring, the turns to his partner and understands. “Oh. Where indeed. Well, we can still try to push it then.”

Larson hops down. It's a tight fit, but the three of them manage to stand next to each other and push the block together. With their combined strength, it takes just a moment to move it deep into the wall, until a thud tells them they've reached the end.

“What did that do?” Cowboy gestures around the dead end. But Pierre and Larson are already searching the side walls.

“Here!” Larson kicks the one on the left. At the bottom, there is another ring.

Pierre smiles. “Yes, here. Well done,” he praises Larson, who beams.

“So what's your job more like? Dangerous traps or draggin' stuff around?” Cowboy asks as they prepare to push another block. “ _Th_ _is_ ain't like I imagined it.”

“Well,” Pierre huffs and leans into the wall, “it's more complicated.” Another thud informs them they can't push any further, but there's a newly opened path to their right. “Sometimes it is mostly searching, sometimes just physically taxing. Sometimes a lot of enemies appear. But traps,” he grabs Larson by his vest and pulls him back just as the ground under the blond's feet crumbles and reveals a pit full of spikes, “traps must be expected always.”

“Yea, I think I figured that by now,” Cowboy adjusts his hat and looks down into the pit.

Larson isn't very concerned, just regains his footing and jumps over the small pit. There, on the wall painted with the stylized head once again, is a lever which he pulls at once.

They can't see or hear anything happening. “Are we going to check the gates?” Cowboy asks.

“Oui, exactement,” Pierre nods. “Are you enjoying it yet? Glad we didn't just wait around?”

“It's… boring danger?” Cowboy shrugs at the dichotomy as they make their way back.

“Non, non,” Pierre corrects him, “the real danger is when you get bored. It makes you inattentive.”

“I see…”

“But it's still fun, right?” Larson tries. “You found that ring!”

“You'd find it later anyway,” Cowboy brushes it off to hide his urge to preen. It feels good, to be appreciated by his colleagues. For smaller things, not just going in and saving someone's life, god knows that's probably not gonna be a usual occurrence.

Not gonna be? Is he contemplating on maybe… continuing?

“Oui, later,” Pierre agrees, “but sometimes speed is everything.”

They still hear their boss' voice from the other corridor when they enter the room at the crossroads, so they leave her be and walk all the way to the first room.

* * *

 

Finally, Kold sighs deeply in defeat. Apparently, he too has come to the conclusion that he will need to help:

“It's not fine, Kid. It doesn't have to be fine if you don't feel that way. And boss wants to apologize.”

Natla blinks in confusion. “But I said I didn't mean it.”

“That's not an apology,” Kold explains with endless patience. Kid remains silent.

“I know it's not,” Natla replies and from Kold's face she can already see he won't like what she says next. But she also wants to make everything clear so if there's something he disagrees with, he better say it because as far as she knows, her logic is sound. “But how can I apologize for it if I didn't mean it in… in whatever way he took it?” Hm, alright, saying it out loud, it does sound rather dubious...

Luckily, now that Kold has started, he's pretty willing to help her till the end: “When you bump into somebody on the street, you apologize too, even if you didn't mean to do it. Don't you?”

“Right...” Natla says slowly. She supposes it could be a similar situation. Well, Kid's _feelings_ seem hurt in this case, which is… an uncharted territory for her, still. Alright, if that's what it takes to get this weirdness over with, she can apologize. It's not like she doesn't know _how_.

“Kid?” she turns to the alcove. “Look, I might not completely understand it, but obviously you took it badly, and I'm sorry you feel that way.”

Kold makes a strangled sound. “No.”

Natla… feels like bashing her head on the wall. How, “no”? What was wrong with- That- Just- What???

Kold glances up, towards the ceiling, still silent, and Natla wonders if he's counting to ten. Finally he turns to her and explains: “Don't apologize for how he feels. Apologize for what you did.”

Natla suspects that saying she can't see much of a difference is probably the wrong step. She has a PR manager in the company and she used to avoid any more diplomatic matters in Atlantis. If she decided to actually apologize for something, no-one _dared_ to criticize the way she did it. But – very well, let's just be done with this.

“And mean it,” Kold adds.

Natla twists her mouth. Of course she is going to mean it, she really does want Kid to go back to normal. She wants him to go back to his expected behaviour that doesn't make her feel... uneasy and clueless.

You're making it about yourself again, something in her head says and it sounds suspiciously like Kold's voice. Ugh, fine. Let's put Kid in the first place. She's apologizing to him. Because it made him feel bad and…

Natla doesn't want him to feel bad. She didn't mean it. But she caused it anyway, so… yes, fine, it _is_ her fault.

She breathes out to steel herself: “Kid,” she calls, “I didn't mean it but… unintentionally or not, it… made you feel bad, or _something_ … Well, I shouldn't have done it, so I'm sorry. For pushing you.” This feels uncomfortable and, well, to her ears it doesn't sound like her _at all_ but she thinks she sees Kold nod from the corner of her eye so she just ends it with: “And I won't do it again.”

She turns to Kold in a silent question. He's smiling slightly in approval. Oh thank god. Kid is still quiet though, does it mean it wasn't enough or…

“Ah...” a voice comes from above, then a sniffle. “Uh… fine... Thanks? Uh…” there's a groan. “Fuck boss, this is fucking awkward.”

Natla can't help the splutter of laughter. It's with relief, she realizes.

* * *

 

As suspected, the second gate is indeed open.

“Aw yeah, we're close!” Larson exclaims, but he's still watching his surroundings for any more dinosaurs, his weapon drawn. He didn't get to live this long by sheer dumb luck. Well, not _only_ by sheer dumb luck.

“Oui, then let's get the last one,” Pierre nods. He turns on his heel and Larson follows him without a thought.

Cowboy stays there, looking at the gates. Should he… should he continue after all? Maybe he's not useful much, but he still _is_ and they acknowledge it and it feels good. Then again, he's also a burden. Pierre said they would protect him and what else could that mean? So is there more usefulness or liability in his presence?

Then again, promising to protect him hints at camaraderie that he is grateful for. They easily included him in their conversation last night, and he is sure that evening by campfire will become a fond memory.

If they accept him also for himself, not just for his contributions, he would be overjoyed. What if the promise of protection was out of concern, not because they don't care for him at all as a person?

“Hey Diego, you comin'?” Larson calls from the other side of the room.

Diego turns only to see Pierre's confused frown: “Who?”

Ah, well. That… is discouraging.

There's a pause and then an “Oh!” from Pierre. “I was not aware...”

Diego gives him a sour smile. Of course he wouldn't know, they have only ever met sparsely, never even actually worked together, everyone but Larson calls him Cowboy anyway, he shouldn't mind… He shouldn't.

“Hm?” Larson looks at one and then the other. He didn't actually address Diego until now, did he? That's fine, not his fault, he's not responsible for introducing Diego to his boyfriend… he doesn't mind…

Oh, no, he does mind, doesn't he? The thoughts of uselessness are coming back. He's so useless no-one cares to call him by his name or they don't even care what his name is at all. Why did he think again he could continue on the next expedition? That was so stupid, that-

“You alright?” Larson asks.

Huh? Diego wonders what face he was making if even Larson noticed. “Oh, yes, absolutely fine.”

“Should I call you Diego then?” Pierre asks. “I apologize if there was a misunderstanding. Kold and Kid clearly do not use their real names either.”

Oh. A logical explanation. Oh.

“That would… be appreciated,” Diego says.

“Very well,” Pierre agrees easily. “Why didn't you say so sooner, mon ami?”

Because I wasn't aware you didn't know my name. I thought you just didn't care.

Out loud, Diego merely responds, “It didn't much bother me, I am used to it.”

Larson is standing to their side, face scrunched up in intense thinking. “What's the matter, dear?” Pierre asks.

Larson looks up, blinks: “Kold and Kid ain't their real names?”

Diego and Pierre's mouths twitch in suppressed smiles. “I very much doubt so, mon cher.”

“So what are their names?”

“Maybe we can ask them later,” Diego offers. “Now we have another gate to open, don't we?”

“Oui, let's go,” Pierre nods resolutely.

* * *

 

Kid appears by the edge of the opening, scowling, but not in anger. His gaze is turned away and his arms folded, gripping his elbows. Then he looks down and is reminded of the spikes. His frown turns foreboding. “So uh… How do I get down?”

Kold smirks, takes a few steps back from the spikes and throws his arms to the sides. “Count your options.”

“Fuck. If you fucking drop me...” Kid mutters but also backs up, then runs and jumps. Kold grabs him with ease, making a half-spin on his heel to break Kid's fall, and sets him down.

“Right,” Kid brushes himself off, a bit surprised at the lack of murder attempts. It's disconcerting. He chances a glance at Natla, who's smiling in a way that might actually be a grimace. Still… still a bit awkward. They all are. “Heh, thanks, Lawrence,” he gives a shit-eating grin and avoids an instantaneous sweep of the hunting knife with a cackle.

Avoiding another sweep – calling Kold by his birth name is one of the surest way to make him want to skewer you quite thoroughly – Kid runs back the way they came, and calls over his shoulder: “I'm gonna see what the fuck the rest's doing!” Then he climbs up and disappears from their view.

Kold grins. “Little shit.”

Natla combs her hair back with one hand, giving one very tired sigh. Her eyes are unfocused.

“I told you years ago...” Kold says.

“Hm?” Natla turns to him, still a little uneasy from all of this.

Kold sighs. “That taking Kid off the street won't make you his saviour but his-”

“Yes, I remember that,” Natla interrupts him hastily.

“Still don't believe me then?”

“I've never said that.”

“You were sceptical.”

“I just said 'how hard can it be'.”

Kold hums. “So how hard can it be?”

Natla is silent for a moment, then groans in defeat: “A lot.”

“Glad to know,” Kold says, amused.

“It's been-” Natla does a quick mental calculation “-almost five years! And something like this has never come up.”

“Or maybe you didn't notice. He didn't exactly have an opportunity to go hide in his room here,” Kold waves his hand in a vague motion.

“He does that?” Natla is bewildered. “I… no, I didn't notice. Does he do that often?”

“Sometimes,” Kold shrugs. “It's usually not that bad. But this is a unique situation, all of us here together for a longer stretch of time. Who knows what else might come up yet.”

“Is that supposed to calm me down?” Natla hears the pitch of her voice rise slightly. No, she's definitely not panicking, no way. But… Kid is sometimes moody, yes, and maybe she has never particularly wondered about it.

Kold chuckles. “Absolutely not.”

“Thanks,” she deadpans. “So if we are going to spend more time together during this search...”

Kold smirks and echoes her words: “You might just need to start caring about your employees' feelings. But I will help you as best I can,” he adds.

Natla mulls it over. “You are pretty good at it… Is there a stray psychology degree I didn't notice in your résumé?”

“No,” Kold answers. A beat. “I left after three semesters.”

“Of course you did,” Natla rolls her eyes.

* * *

 

Pierre, Larson and Diego are just entering the third passageway when a fourth person barrels into the middle of their group. “What's up, fuckers? You dead yet?”

“Clearly not,” Pierre responds stiffly.

“Hey, Kid,” Larson's eyes lit up. “Are your and Kold's names your real names?”

“Why?” Kid makes a face.

“Because Diego here would clearly prefer to be called by his real name, which, I admit, I haven't even known,” Pierre says. “So maybe the same might be true for the two of you.”

“Would you?” Kid squints at Diego. “'Kay, whatever.”

“You knew his name?” Pierre sounds bashful.

“Yeah?” Kid shrugs. Pierre… really doesn't have anything to add to that.

They are now in another room and there is a lever on the wall, in plain sight. It looks suspicious. Cowboy comes near and sees the cracked floor, similar to the one that broke into pieces in the previous room. He nudges it with one foot and it crumbles.

“Good eyes,” Pierre comments, glad for the opportunity to change the topic.

“So what's yer and Kold's real name?” Larson ruins it.

“What's a real name?” Kid throws back.

“The- the one on your birth certificate?” Diego says distractedly, glancing back and looking down into the hole in the ground. There are sounds of wolf howls coming from there.

“Ha!” Kid laughs. “If you call Kold by _that_ name, he's gonna kill you!”

Diego gulps at that. Then he sees one wolf and takes a shot. Larson, interested, looks down too and helps him, but still needs to ask: “It's something stupid?”

Kid doesn't even answer, just laughs again.

“And your name, Kid?” Cowboy asks. There seems to be no more wolves, so Larson starts to lower himself in slowly. Kid just jumps over him and lands on the lower floor. Larson, Diego and, after some hesitation and encouragement even Pierre, follow him.

There are three dead wolves but otherwise an empty room with ramps leading up to an elevated section on the other side.

“So?” Diego asks Kid again.

Kid looks at him, then at the other two who are watching him expectantly. “The fucking name on my fucking birth certificate?” he says, disgusted, and grinds his heel into one of the wolf carcasses until a bone snaps. “If you ever fucking call me that, I'm gonna kill you so fucking bad you'll wish I left you to Kold.”

Now, none of them would consider Kid exactly non-aggressive but that was… surprisingly hostile. Or maybe just without the usual mockery.

“Very well. Kid,” Pierre gives him a wide berth as he starts to explore the room. Larson and Diego don't address this topic again, which – in Larson's case – really shows the impact.

The three older men soon discover a movable block and pull it out while Kid just skates idly in the lower part of the room, but he follows them into the new opening. After a bit of climbing they finally reach another lever.

“Can I pull it?” Larson asks eagerly.

“Go ahead,” Pierre nods after inspecting the floor and walls around. Seems safe enough.

Larson does so and Diego then points their attention towards a hole in the floor behind them. “So where does this lead?” Then he recalls the way they came here, through a broken floor with a drop they might not be able to climb back up to. “We're gonna find out, I suppose.”

Pierre clearly comes to the same conclusion. “What choice do we have, mon ami?”

“You ain't going first,” Larson steps in, grinning at Pierre. “I'll go, I'll catch ya.”

“How sweet, mon amour,” Pierre says and Kid rolls his eyes:

“You fall once and start shitting your pants from heights.”

Diego glances at him shrewdly. “You seemed rather distraught down there when boss-”

“Shut the fuck up,” Kid growls and again, there is no levity. He groans then, dragging a palm over his face. “Fucking hate this…”

“Whassa matter?” Larson asks, by far the closest one to Kid of all three.

“I want this fucking day to be fucking over,” Kid murmurs. “Let's find that fucking piece of fucking Scion.” Then he jumps into the hole.

The three men exchange glances.

“He really did sound quite distraught back then,” Diego repeats. “I suppose I shouldn't've reminded him of it.”

“Sounded?” Pierre wonders. “I didn't hear anything.”

Diego hums. “A parent's intuition?”

Larson scratches his head “Yer his dad?”

“Haha, I'm not, I'm quite sure. Now, shall we go?”

Larson drops down and sees Kid further away in the hallway they are now in. Pierre falls after him and Larson very much enjoys catching him in his arms, even if the height doesn't really require it. He grins at Pierre: “Well hello there. Just dropping by?”

Pierre chuckles and kisses him.

“I take it you have a reason for your elation?” their boss' voice sounds just behind them and Larson almost drops Pierre in surprise.

“Oh, miss Natla,” Pierre turns as he gets on his feet. “Oui, we do, the gates should be all open now!”

“They are, thank fuck,” Kid walks back to them. It's now clear they are standing in the passage that leads back to the main room.

“Well, good,” Natla looks around. “But aren't you missing someone?”

“Diego? Are you coming?” Pierre calls up.

“I'd rather not fall down on any of you,” comes in answer.

“Diego?” Natla asks as they clear the place below the hole. “I wasn't aware he preferred his real name.”

Diego lands with a thud. “That is no matter, boss, whatever you prefer,” he says breezily.

“Alright,” Natla shrugs and moves to continue forward, but a short sound of Kold clearing his throat stops her. She glances at him. Squints her eyes at Diego. Turns back to Kold and holds his gaze while they have a short, wordless conversation. Glances back at Diego, her stare somehow accusing and chastised at the same time. “But you do have a preference.”

“As I say, whichever you like, wouldn't want to give you trouble… after the last two… days...”

Natla looks at Kold again. Sighs slowly and deeply. “I can't deal with this anymore,” she stage whispers and moves out briskly towards the main room, Kold at her heels. “Let's go, Pierre, Larson, Kid, _Diego_.”

In the moments before the rest catch up to them, she mumbles to Kold: “I don't want to deal with anyone's emotions for the rest of the day.”

Kold chuckles. “Tomorrow's fine?”

Natla gives him an unimpressed glare.

“Then focus on right now,” Kold jerks his chin towards.

Natla's eyes widen. “Right,” she says in wonder. “We may be mere steps from the Scion...”

They walk into the newly opened passage, Kold first but Natla close second. Pierre, Larson and Diego follow, Kid going last.

They don't walk long.

“Well, look at that,” Natla comments, one eyebrow arching.

“Ain't looking like much trouble now, after everything...” Diego pipes up. The thumps of darts shooting from the walls are his answer. They are situated evenly along a wide staircase leading up.

Natla hums and glances at Kid. She expected him to have a comment or two… But the boy just shrugs when he notices her. “Yeah, survived worse.”

Kid is still acting strangely. Great, just great. Natla looks at Kold for an explanation and receives a tiny shrug. Even better. But hopefully it can wait a little bit, this trip shouldn't take long anymore. And getting the first piece of the Scion should put Natla in a good enough mood that she might be willing to focus on _feelings_ for a little bit afterwards.

Ugh, what did she ever do to deserve this?

They pass the trap without much trouble, enter a narrow corridor leading right and they walk though it carefully. Everything here is still in the same garish colours but Natla has become desensitized to it by now. It always used to be so – no matter what atrocity in redesigning his quarters or his own wardrobe Qualopec would come up with, Natla's senses would be dulled after some time, probably her brain protecting her own sanity. And however shocking it could sometimes be to look at Qualopec, the shock stopped to be actually surprising after the first few years.

“There it is,” Kold says, his voice calm and even, and stops, inspecting the corridor they are still in. Natla sidesteps him – there's not enough room for them to walk side by side – and looks forward. She doesn't make even one step more, no matter how she wants to. There could still be traps, yes, they have to be careful and it would be infinitely _stupid_ to die close to their goal but… she can see it now. She sees the Scion.

In the fifty years of her life in the modern, new, _different_ world, sometimes she would wake up wondering if her life in Atlantis was merely an elaborate dream. Now a tangible part of her past is in her reach and her plans, locked deep in her mind since she held the Scion for the last time, come to the surface as bright and clear as they were the day she finalized them.

Her body vibrates in anticipation and others must notice too as a large hand comes to rest on her shoulder. “Let's go slowly,” Kold advises and they finally move on again.

Natla puts one foot in front the other with a restraint that almost hurts. There is so much energy in her body, almost childish joy, her fists clenching and unclenching in the hopes of feeling the cold metal pressed between her palm and fingers.

They are mere steps from the room now, but the distance feels insurmountable with their slow gait. Natla sees Kold from the corner of her eye, making a step to the side to let Pierre through, so the adventurer can scan the entrance more thoroughly.

“All seems safe,” Pierre announces and these words are like a dam being broken, Natla's energy is unstoppable now as she barrels past him, eyes only on her prize. Her legs move without prompting, without tiredness or, hell, gravitation slowing her down, she feels weightless with joy as she extends her hand and-

“So these are Qualopec's remains?”

-gravity comes back with vengeance and slams her to the ground. Or maybe she breaks through and plunges into icy waters underneath, chilling her to the bone.

Pierre's voice comes from the left, but surely they wouldn't… surely Qualopec's corpse wouldn't just be… The rigidity is back, this time not suppressed by sheer force of will but rather her brain short-circuiting on the spot. She can't look. She wants to look. It will bring her nothing. It might bring her _something_. It might-

Larson yelps in surprise and shoots. Natla whips around to him and sees a large mummified – a cat? Yes a cat… sees a mummified cat fall to the ground with a growl.

And before she can stop herself her eyes move a little higher.

A human skeleton sitting on a throne – it could be anyone if not for the contraption attached to its back. The machinery has been bleached by time, as pale as the bones now, but painfully familiar in every detail. With all the maintenance required, both Natla and Tihocan were well versed in its gears and mechanisms. There are the joints and the exact spots to press and turn to make them click apart. The upper-middle bolts that needed tightening most often. The spring that was faulty once and they spent a whole afternoon coming up with more and more outlandish replacements after the head mechanic informed them a proper spare part wasn't readily available.

Even from the distance, Natla inspects every inch of the prosthetics, transfixed. There is a morbid fascination coupled with magnetism of long forgotten familiarity, all bundled in a terrified refusal to stray from the straight mechanical bones towards the curved, organic ones as if one was any less intrinsic to Qualopec's being than the other. Closing her eyes is impossible, she doesn't know and doesn't care if she's blinking, she's trapped in the feeling of smooth polished lines, in the metallic cling when correct components come together, the smell of oil and incense and the playful bickering of-

“Boss?”

Natla jumps and whips around, her eyes finding a safe refuge in Kold's. It's a relief and a loss and she blinks, feeling her eyes water. So she hasn't blinked, has she? Her eyes feel dry and rough and so they are tearing up. She blinks several more times to clear them.

“Boss?” Kold tries again and Natla can focus enough now to see the concern in his face. He's concerned, well, that's nice, why couldn't _they_ be concerned, would they even care if they saw her now? Of course they wouldn't, have they ever cared at all? Bastards! Did they miss her? She missed them… No! No she… they would laugh, oh they would wouldn't they? They got rid of her to live happily ever after and laugh at her forever!

“Boss, are you-”

“No!” Natla hisses and whirls around, her eyes boring into the empty eye sockets that immediately chill her to the bone, but her anger thaws her a second later, helping her maintain eye contact despite the horror coiling in her gut.

_No, I'm the one laughing now, aren't I, Qualopec?_ Natla screams, laughs, gasps. Yet she can't hear it, can't hear herself, she's in a vacuum while her head is so full it could burst. _Keep rotting here forever_. She bores holes into his skull, willing him to answer. He always gave her the silent treatment when he disagreed or thought her doing something stupid. _You think it's stupid? Just try to stop me this time._

Her hand reaches with certainty, without having the look. The Scion leaves its suspended position and silently slips into her palm.

A rumble. A loud crash. Strong hands pulling her aside and a large body covering her. She's being picked up and hastily carried away.

A fog lifts from her mind in a rush. There is shouting, Kid, Pierre, Larson, Diego, the path leads downwards, pink and gold, shakes and trembles, Kold's warm arms around her, the smell of the tomb, dusty and mouldy, hurried steps behind her, dark and light, sweat and dried blood, so much _noise_!

The ceiling crumbles and Kold runs zigzagged with unusual swiftness, making it back into the unadorned tunnel of the natural cavern. Natla's head is spining with the movements.

Kold stops outside at the edge of the lake, making others bump uselessly into him in their haste. “Ouch!” “Kold move!”

“Boss, we gotta swim, you alright?”

Natla leans back so she can look Kold in the face, placing one palm on his chest. “Yes, I-”

They are not in the water yet. And they managed to partially dry since entering the tomb. So why is her palm wet?

She brings her hand to her face only to see it covered in blood. “Your wound has reopened!” She wriggles and forces Kold to drop her.

“It's nothing-”

“Dude shut up,” Kid interrupts him, staring at the blood too. Natla sees how tired the boy looks, and angry? Agitated? She's _no good at this_. But she can't pay attention to Kid's distress if Kold is bleeding, she has to choose the more urgent matter to focus on and possibly she just wants to _scream_.

There is another rumble from the cave.

“We really gotta get out!” Diego shouts.

Kold grunts and before Natla can stop him, he sneaks his arm around her waist and jumps. Natla escapes his hold once again and swims by herself, keeping a careful eye on her foolhardy bodyguard the whole way. The others are swimming not far behind, judging by the splashing, but Natla doesn't glance at them until Kold is safely on the shore, and only then just to make sure none of them is missing.

Kold, for his part, doesn't _act_ like he's bleeding liberal amounts of blood on the ground, but Natla doesn't let him get up with a firm hand on his shoulder. He doesn't protest, which is finally an acknowledgement that something is wrong.

There's an appreciative whistle on the left and Larson says: “Good thing there ain't no sharks in the water.”

Natla looks at the red stains on the lake surface, Kold does too and chuckles. Natla laughs. It might sound a little hysterical.

Just a little bit.


	5. By the Lake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Qualopec's piece of the Scion is successfully retrieved. Natla and her gang take a little break by the lake before heading back to civilization. They... certainly need it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In relation to the game, this chapter takes the place of the cutscene with Larson and Lara. But apart from the same location, there aren't... really... any similarities. Like, at all.
> 
> Pretty Natla-centric, but considering what happened the last chapter, it's probably not surprising.

“Boss, you alright?” Kold frowns. “You just froze back there.”

“ _Me_ alright?” Natla snarls. “You are bleeding!” She starts peeling off his wet clothes to get to the wound.

“And you just had a pretty big shock seeing that-”

“Seeing you like this is a shock! Almost half dead!”

“That isn't the cause and you know it.”

Natla retracts her bloodied hands as she uncovers the long deep gash left behind by the T-Rex's talon, staring at it with wide eyes. “It might be now!”

“I'll live,” he grabs her shaking arms, “but your current mental state-”

“Your physical state!” she cuts him off.

A first-aid kit drops next to them with a loud, pointed thud. “Well you both look like shit!” Kid barks at them. Then he nods at Kold's wound. “I'll deal with that,” and shoves Natla away with his hip. She falls on Kold's unhurt side where he catches her and she ends up sitting, dumbfounded, on his knee. She slides down next to him not to put any more strain on his body, but he still keeps one arm tightly around her and she doesn't protest.

“Are you sure?” Kold asks Kid who's busying himself with gauzes and antiseptics.

“I didn't spend two fucking years on the streets to not fucking know what to do when you get fucked up.”

“And let's not forget the first-aid courses boss paid for,” Kold says.

Kid shoots him a look. “The fuck were they for? Didn't see any blood at those.” Then he pointedly presses the gauze with disinfectant to the wound, grinning in satisfaction as Kold lets out a short, quiet hiss.

“I don't doubt your skill,” Kold says and it's only a little bit strained, “but you're yourself still a little-”

Kid adds force to the press, effectively silencing him. “I'm fucking fine!”

“You're not fine,” Natla says almost petulantly and when Kid and Kold look over to her, she's huddled to Kold's side as if attempting to melt into him, curled up and staring at the Scion held in her bloodied palm so tightly it must be leaving indents on her skin.

“You talkin' 'bout yourself?” Kid murmurs and turns back to his work. “What the fuck happened? You were just standing there, like, frozen, just blinking. Then you scream “No!” and freeze again.”

Natla stays silent, grips the Scion even more firmly and purses her lips.

Kid glances at Kold who looks indecisive but then shakes his head. Kid frowns but doesn't argue, focusing on the bandages again.

For a while the only sound comes from a little further away, where the other three wisely retreated to give them some privacy. Or just followed Larson's enthusiastic visions:

“...would be awesome, right? One final fight to sweeten our victory, right here!”

“And who would we be fighting?” Pierre humours him.

“Hmm, some monster? Or other treasure hunters! Ha, they'd stand no chance!”

“As long as it's not Lara Croft, am I right?” Diego says. “I've heard enough to never want to meet her.”

“Yes, well, preferably no-one,” Pierre answers diplomatically.

“I could hide behind this boulder and then just – bam!” Larson rambles on.

“Well _I_ hope no-one else fucking comes,” Kid says just loud enough for Kold and Natla – if her mind is present – to hear. “I'm almost out of ammo.”

“It should be fine. Wolves at most, and only if we overlooked a path they could come here from somewhere else,” Kold comments.

Kid grunts in agreement and they fall silent again.

It's only when he's almost finished that Natla's voice returns, weak and hesitant but gradually stepping up to turn into a rant: “I didn't… I wasn't… prepared to see… Why would they… Wouldn't he want… buried… no… he sits… He sits there waiting for me to come… he expected me to come one day and I did and he planned it and if I came alone I would be too shocked to move and I would die he planned to kill me even after he died he was still prepared he used himself as a scarecrow and it almost worked it was so smart he knew me so well he was expecting me he knew exactly what would happen he knew it all...” she stops abruptly. The other two are looking at her but her own eyes are still unfocused, staring into nothing.

“Strategic thinker, was he?” Kold says and Natla nods absent-mindedly. “Got it all planned out.” She nods again. “Who knew he could see into the future.” Natla goes to nod again but stops halfway and shoots him an annoyed stare. Kold grins. “Right, he couldn't... then he'd know you wouldn't come alone.” Natla's stare intensifies, then softens.

“He didn't–” she starts tentatively, but it's livelier - and not just because he eyes are not so dead anymore, “he didn't expect that I might not be alone…? That there would be people who'd come with me willingly... and help me... and save me from his trap...” she slowly transforms her flown into a small smile. “It _almost_ worked! He knew me _so well_ didn't he? But not well enough, he didn't know… he didn't know you would come with me...”

“Yeah, what did that guy know?” Kid snorts derisively, flopping down next to them, Kold bandaged to the best of his abilities. “He painted his own tomb ice-cream colours.”

Natla stares at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. It might still have a rather manic quality to it but it's also genuinely amused and she can't stop for a while, leaning on both men. She doesn't see the approving grin Kold shoots at Kid. She gradually quiets, and wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes, she says: “I wouldn't mind some ice-cream just about now.”

“Well now I want some too,” Kid crosses his arms accusingly, but there's amusement hiding in the quirk of his mouth.

“We can all get some ice-cream once we're outta here,” Kold promises them.

“I want some too!” Larson pipes up. Maybe he's been listening in, maybe certain words – such as ice-cream – just ring an alarm in his subconsciousness that makes him pay attention.

“Get your own!” Kid throws a roll of gauze in his face.

“Hey!” Larson yelps, but Kid is already running away, cackling.

“He seems better,” Natla comments, watching Kid and Larson chasing each other around the lake.

Kold hums in agreement. “It was a shock, but he'll be fine.”

“I still don't understand why he reacted so strongly...” Natla admits. “I mean… I suppose I get why, but not why so much...”

“He needs some assurances in life. You are safe to be around and what you've done called that into question. Just make sure you don't do something like that again.”

Natla nods. “Sounds easy in theory.”

Kold snorts at that and then looks down at her. “So what about you? You seem to be doing better but… That was one hell of a shock. Wanna talk about it?”

“I'm f-” Natla starts but then looks down, realizing she's _still_ clutching the Scion hard in her palm. She opens her hand slowly and it hurts when the metal edges that dug deep into her skin finally come lose, leaving deep red indents on her palm and fingers. Despite that, there is no blood, the skin darkened but not broken. Natla looks at the Scion contemplatively.

It feels wrong. The Scion parts might look practically identical to an untrained eye, but she was in charge of one for a long time. And this is very much _not_ her part. To hold another one but not her own… it's awkward and unpleasant, like wearing clothes sewn slightly askew, not able to straighten them out comfortably despite their functionality at first glance.

Clothes that used to belong to your old friend who betrayed you and whose corpse you found sitting on a throne waiting for you.

Natla shudders.

“I… will be fine. I… I really didn't expect...” she takes a deep breath. “He sentenced me to an eternal cryogenic sleep,” she says slowly, deliberately. “I hate him. I should be happy about seeing...” she waves her free hand in a complicated gesture instead of completing the sentence.

“There is nothing strange about it. And there's nothing wrong about the way you feel,” Kold assures her.

“Is there?” Natla says dryly.

“You were close for a really long time, weren't you? He turned on you in the end, but even this last action can't make you forget all he meant to you before.”

“I had the last fifty years to make this _last action_ of his sink in and overwrite everything else,” Natla says, though the bitterness in her voice belies her true feelings.

“Past relationships are not so easily overwritten,” Kold tugs her a bit closer with the arm still snaked around her. “But maybe this is a closure you didn't know you needed.”

“So I will stop feeling like shit whenever I remember him from now on?” It's sullen and mumbled into Kold's shoulder.

Kold chuckles. “Not sure. But it might not hurt so much anymore, eventually.”

Natla shuffles a bit. “I've never said it hurt.”

Kold just hums non-committally, watching the chase that has sometime along the way turned around, with Kid chasing Larson now, who isn't above using his boyfriend as a meat shield. Any thrown projectiles seem non-lethal and there's a great deal of ribbing and laughter, so nothing catastrophic is likely going to happen anytime soon. From the corner of his eye, he can see Natla watching it too and so he sees when her mouth opens the slightest bit:

“Eventually, huh?”

 

* * *

 

They decide to spend the rest of the day around the lake. Mostly because of Kold's injuries, but also because they all need some rest and the way back down from the snow-covered mountain won't have the benefit of a guide this time.

Not that Larson and Kid really know the meaning of rest, spending the day running around like maniacs, even going back to the green valley with Pierre and Diego to take a look around now that there's no danger.

Natla watches Kid joke around like he has no care in the world and when he disappears with the other three, she throws Kold and inquiring look. He shrugs – carefully, to not aggravate his injury – and looks the way they went. “Maybe this is fine. We don't know if something else have upset him after we coaxed him out, it might be already over.”

“Really?” Natla narrows her eyes. “ _Maybe this is fine?_ If I said this, you'd be glaring at me all disappointed again.”

Kold smiles at her and Natla feels like she stepped into a trap waiting just for her.

“Hold on to that attitude,” he praises her. “And if you can get Kid away from the rest, we can try to talk to him. Or you might.”

Natla feels almost dizzy trying to imagine dealing with Kid's problems on top of hers. She shudders. “I don't think I can. Not alone. Not… definitely not right now.”

“Right, not dealing with anyone's emotions for the rest of the day?” Kold recites her earlier words.

“And I didn't even account for mine!” Natla wails, sliding down dramatically from the rock she's been sitting on, one hand held over her eyes.

“An oversight you might want to account for from now on.”

Natla lifts her hand to glare at him again. “You're being preachy today. Unusually preachy, I mean.”

“This is an unusual situation. We all can take it as a learning experience.”

“Oh,” Natla flutters her eyelashes. “To learn all about ourselves and each other. A journey of self-discovery!”

“If you tone down the melodrama,” Kold shuffles a bit to find a more comfortable sitting position on the hard rock, “it's not that far from the truth – for you, and possibly Diego. Whether you were planning on it or not.”

Natla turns her stare onto the Scion in her hand. “I should have.”

Kold doesn't say anything to it. There's nothing that would help at the moment. It's true, after all, Natla should have come more emotionally prepared, but she herself already admitted that. Instead, he stays silent for a minute and then speaks up:

“Let's talk to Kid tomorrow, yeah?”

“Why can't just you?”

“Because it's clearly been _my_ oversight to let him leave you out of his problems for so long. This rift might only get bigger.”

A low sigh. “Tomorrow.”

They talk no more of the issue, Natla lost in her thoughts and Kold keeping an eye on both her and the surroundings for any unexpected danger. Sometimes, Natla's eyes come to linger too long on the entrance behind the waterfall and Kold pretends to feel a painful pang or just offers a faux-interesting observation of their surroundings. She plays along and doesn't thank him for the distraction, at least not with words. She checks and re-checks his bandages, muttering about reckless employees instead.

 

* * *

 

A few hours later Pierre comes back with some smaller dinosaur body parts, mostly teeth, discussing with Larson what price they could get for them. This conversation leads to Larson and Diego skinning one of the raptors, to many disgusted comments from Kid.

Although he's the one to later suggest trying to eat some dinosaur meat. Natla rolls her eyes and sees Kold laugh at her reaction, but they roast the raptor anyway.

And then a part of the T-Rex too, because why waste such a unique opportunity?

“I think the raptor tasted better,” Pierre comments as they are preparing to get some sleep in the wolf cave.

“The T-Rex was like an old, greasy shoe,” Diego agrees.

“Yeah well but we still ate a fucking T-Rex!” Kid exclaims and high-fives Larson.

The good thing about those two messing around all day is that they fall asleep soon enough and without much bickering. Pierre is snoring contently next to Larson and Cowboy doesn't stay awake for much longer either. Kold is still injured so sleep claims him soon after.

Natla can't fall asleep. She's not tired physically and while she's doing much better emotionally than she did some hours before, she's still restless. She forces herself to close her eyes, but relaxing seems impossible and any half-asleep minute ends with jerking awake. Eventually, she gets up and walks over to the lake. In the night-time shadow of the great cavern, it should be impossible to pinpoint the now half-buried entrance to the tomb, but Natla feels quite sure the patch of darkness she's faced towards is the correct direction.

There lies Qualopec, not far away, and has been for millennia. She is still fighting with the realization that a tangible part of her previous life is so close. And not just any part, but the remains of someone who used to be one of her closest friends, once.

Hurts. It hurts, it does. She loved and hated that man. Loves and hates that man. She dreamed of revenge in the last moments before her body turned into ice, she dreamed of it all being just a terrible dream, because Qualopec would never, neither would Tiho-

Ah, she can't go there, not yet. Because this journey is yet to happen and if she thinks now about what she might find, it's possible she might not make herself continue. Ironically, considering her plans, she can't allow herself to think of the future just now.

She can stay in the present for the time being, it's not hard, she's used to staying in the moment and focusing whenever she works in her lab.

It's just here and now.

And Qualopec is not here anymore.

She knew, objectively she knew he wouldn't be alive, she counted on it in the abstract way she recounts facts. But without any proof until now, such things were just a little _too_ abstract. There was nothing to signalize his end because she wasn't conscious for any of it. His life has never been properly concluded as far as her personal experience goes.

Her breath hitches and she wavers for a second, emotions running high and making her dizzy before she smooths them down. Decided, she goes back to the campsite and then returns to the lake where she lowers herself on the stone-covered ground.

She used to be a queen. Tradition and culture, many things required of her, it was just going through the motions. A few rare times in her life has she done something like this while being personally invested, rather that as simple duty.

She places the Scion, which hasn't left her hand since she took it from the pedestal, on the ground beside her. Then she lights a candle and takes a deep breath.

 

* * *

 

Kold wakes up, less alert than he normally would be but aware of the wound in his side causing his grogginess. The injury is a bit better than a day ago, yet he's still lost quite a bit of blood and was rather expecting to sleep until the morning unless something woke him up. The darkness is thick and sure around him, which means-

And then he hears _what_ woke him up.

It makes him notice the missing body next to him, a shameful lack of attention for a bodyguard. He debates with himself for a while but eventually drags himself to his feet as carefully as he can, mindful of his sleeping companions and his own wound.

He steps over the sleeping bodies and the bags and gear lying around, walking to the cave entrance where he stops by the rocks, looking outside.

In the deep, thick darkness of the underground night, the kneeling figure silhouetted by the flicker of a candle might as well be the only light in the whole world. The haunting lilt of unknown words, half recited half sung by the only voice allowed to command him, carries softly across the cavern.

Kold is aware of the intimacy of the scene before him, but can't make himself move away, enthralled. The language, lost to the present world, heard by his own ears only a handful of times before from the last living person who speaks it, carries meaning and emotion to him despite not understanding the content of the words.

He stays there for a while in the dark, unable to tell time, not acknowledging the little sounds and shuffles coming from behind his back. It's only when a muffled yawn comes from his right that he reluctantly does the responsible thing and quietly, carefully shoos the four other people crowded behind him back to the bedrolls.

The haunting voice carries softly through the still air to them and he might only wonder if the others find it soothing or chilling.

For his part, it is simply sad. But tiredness claims him before he can think of it any more.

 

* * *

 

Kid wakes up slowly, with a strange melody ringing in his ears. Has he been dreaming of it?

He cracks his eyes open when he hears a yawn nearby, squinting in the morning light the cavern offers without any discernible source. The yawn comes from Pierre, just sitting with his hair all mussed up and Kid grins a little at the image of the Frenchie seeing himself in the mirror.

Larson is only just stirring in his sleep and Diego is cracking his stiff neck. Well, Kid can freely admit that he's looking forward to a proper bed. This brings back unwelcome memories of the time when such a thing was a far away luxury. Not that it was all bad, sure better than before, with proper bed and all, but still much worse than _after_ , when he met-

He turns around, spotting Kold rolling his shoulder as he tests his wound. But there's someone missing.

The melody still present in his mind offers a vision, a silhouette against a flickering flame. He blinks once. That wasn't a dream, was it? He scrambles up and runs towards the entrance to look out.

There is light now, not from the meagre fire but all around, colder and more natural. The silhouette now stands out only against the dark surface of the lake, but looks like she hadn't moved at all since the night.

Kid glances back, but Kold is still busy checking his injuries. So the boy looks forward again, at the rigid shoulders and unmoving body, completely unreadable. He makes an aborted move with his torso, raising one foot to step out and stopping it mid-air.

She looked like fucking shit yesterday. He doesn't particularly want to see more of it, but he also wants to know if she _is_ better. At least with all that shit and with her general attitude to feelings, there's no danger of her asking about _his_ shit.

He sets the foot down and walks out, towards the unmoving figure. He doesn't try to be stealthy or anything, but she doesn't acknowledge him as he stops by her side, glancing all around and scratching his head awkwardly. He stands there for maybe half a minute with no word from either of them. He was really hoping he wouldn't have to speak first. Oh well, here goes nothing.

“Uhhh… what's up, boss?” Fuck. Great start.

“I'm fine,” she says, a little too quickly, an automatic response.

Kid finally dares to look at her face. She's not looking at him, but even from her profile he can see the dark bags under her eyes. Did she actually sit there the whole night? Fuck, she did, didn't she? But at least she looks more or less calm. Not frozen or freaked out. Then again he's not the best judge, he'd need Kold for that.

“You… don't fucking look like-”

“How are you feeling? After yesterday?” Natla interrupts while he's fumbling for words. Shit, did she really ask him that? Well at least she doesn't look exactly comfortable with her chosen change of topic either.

“Fine,” Kid shrugs, hoping it sounds carefree enough. It's right after that he realizes he gave the exact same answer she had.

Natla turns her head in a fluid, carefully slow movement, and looks at him with one eyebrow raised.

Kid holds her stare for just a moment before he plops down next to her and throws up his arms. “So we're not fucking fine. The fuck, right? What a fucking surprise? Let's get the fuck outta here and forget this fucking place.”

“Will that help?” Natla says. “Kold tells me you've had your… problems for a while. That you didn't tell me about.”

Kid grimaces. “The fuck? You know about my problem.”

“I don't mean physical,” Natla moves her hand vaguely to explain, staring over the lake.

“Fuck no, yesterday was too much, just, fuck, we're not talking about fucking feelings,” Kid quickly stops her.

Natla groans, and Kid is actually glad to hear that, because that sounds human and normal. “Yes, Kold seems to think that's precisely the problem.”

Kid grabs a pebble lying by his hand and throws it into the water, as far as he can. “Fuck Kold.”

“Eloquent,” Natla snorts.

“You gonna tell me to watch my language now?” Kid flops on his back, staring at the cave ceiling high up in the shadows. “Fucking many fucking years too fucking late.”

“I am aware,” Natla confirms, voice dry as desert sand. “But if you don't want to talk about feelings...”

“You don't want either.”

“Well, yes, I admit that. But still...”

“Uggggh. What?”

“It was you who approached me.”

Kid is silent for a moment. “You looked like shit,” he says finally. “Was thinking of leaving it to Kold...”

“Why didn't you?”

“Dunno.”

Now it's Natla who's silent for a minute. “He actually wanted me to speak with you. After that incident yesterday. He agreed we'd talk with you together but he would have preferred if it was just you and me.”

“So we both wanted Kold to deal with our shit but ended up talking about it without him,” Kid says, defeated.

“He'll be so proud,” Natla drawls.

Kid huffs. “Not that I fucking want to, but we're not _actually_ talking about anything. We like… talk about talking about it.”

Natla shifts to finally look at Kid again. He slides his eyes from the ceiling to look at her, and, well, she does look a bit better now. Or maybe it's just wishful thinking. “You know,” she says, “for our first attempt, I'd say it was quite good. He can't expect miracles.”

“So there's gonna be more attempts?” Kid slides a palm over his face.

“I didn't say that,” Natla grimaces. “He wanted us to talk, and we did. If he asks, we can tell him that honestly. And that's that.”

Kid's eyes widen a bit. “Oh! Good thinking, boss.”

Natla smiles, it's a little crooked but sincere. “Let's pack up then,” she heaves herself up. Then she looks back down, at the Scion still lying at her feet, and her eyes darken for a moment before she bends to snatch it up and stuff it in her pocket. “Let's go, we really don't need to stay here any longer than necessary.”

“Yeah,” Kid drags himself to his feet. “I won't fucking miss it.”

“I thought you were enjoying the dinosaurs?” Natla throws over her shoulder as they walk the short way back to the camp.

“Ha, yeah,” Kid grins. Then his mouth twists, eyebrows scrunching to create wrinkles above his nose. “I don't think I'd wanna see them often though.”

Natla chuckles. “I can agree with that.” She looks forward, having stepped into the camp, and meets Kold's eyes, who is watching them both with a silent question on his tongue. Natla jerks one shoulder, keeping the amusement in her face. It should make her bodyguard satisfied enough, hopefully. He must've seen them talking, even if he couldn't hear all they said.

“Still half dead?” Kid asks in as annoying voice as he can make. He avoids the knife and skips merrily towards his things to pack them up.

“And a verbal answer to that question?” Natla prompts Kold.

He sheaths the knife and flexes his shoulder. “It's better. There should be no problem on our way back.”

“As long as there are no nasty surprises,” Natla feels the need to add, glancing up the cut off waterfall. Then her gaze lowers, stopping on the tomb entrance.

“Boss,” Kold says and even before she looks at him, she can hear the worry in his voice, mirroring his expression.

“There's one more thing I want to do before we leave,” Natla says and Kold's worry even deepens. She can appreciate it, but she's also well enough now to be annoyed by it at the same time. She rolls her eyes. “I want to return the waterfall to its original position. That's all.”

Kold looks at her for several seconds, searching her face, and then nods slowly. “We can do that.”

Natla's smile is grateful, and he returns it.

 

* * *

 

It doesn't take more than ten minutes to finish packing by then, everyone focused on their task with the vision of the perks of civilization when they return home. They climb up the rocks above the lake and arrive at the corridor leading back to Vilcabamba when Natla tells them to wait a moment and leaves with Kold upstream.

“Is something there?” Cowboy asks, wary. “There shouldn't be, right?”

“No, nothing concerning,” Natla soothes his worries, herself surprised she even cared enough to do so. She leaves with Kold before she can overthink it and it's just a few jumps to get them onto the bridge leading to the cog mechanism. Natla doesn't stop there, walking towards the lever and pulling it with no fanfare. The rush of water tells her the stream has been redirected.

“That was rather anticlimatic,” Kold comments.

“I've performed the proper funeral rites. This is the closest thing to burying him and… granting him peace, I suppose. I just...”

“You don't have to explain yourself to me,” Kold holds up his hands.

Natla shrugs. “I just want closure. And no waiting around. This felt… good.”

“That's good.”

“Let's head back.”

Kold merely nods, satisfied.

 

* * *

 

“I forgot how fucking cold it's out here!” Kid exclaims as he steps onto the thick cover of snow. Then he drops and rolls as a knife swipes where he's been a moment before.

“Starting again, dipshit?” Kold approaches him menacingly.

“Do you _have_ to?” Natla calls after them. “Don't forget about your injuries!”

“This is a lesson in homophones,” Kold grins.

Natla can't help but roll her eyes. “Kid, just say it's freezing or someth- Larson! Stop playing in the snow, you'll get sick again!”

“Ah'm fine, Miss Natla,” Larson sticks his head out of a white fluffy mound. “Ain't sick or ah-anyth-chooo!”

“Mon cher! Let's get you off this mountain!” Pierre scrambles to dig Larson out.

“Ma'am, can we find the way back without our guide?” Diego eyes an inconspicuous snowy bump on the side, just about the size of a human.

Natla sighs and looks behind her at the massive stone doors. It took them just over half an hour from the waterfall all the way back here. With all the doors open and most of the traps disabled, it was quite an easy trek. But Diego is right, they aren't safe yet. She squints at her phone. “The signal is… not non-existent, so we can try calling for help if we get too lost. Now let's go, if we take too long, we will be stuck in the mountains overnight.”

“I was hoping to sleep in a bed today,” Pierre says, patting Larson's jacket to get rid of the snow. They all pulled out their heaviest clothes as they emerged outside on the mountain. Despite its ever-present danger, they are quite missing the warmth of the valley now.

“Maybe we could try sledding!” Larson doesn't let his runny nose dampen his enthusiasm. “That would be quick!”

“Darling, that's dangerous,” Pierre explains patiently. “Besides, we don't have sleds.”

“If you tear off the wheels...,” Kold makes a move to snatch Kid, who dodges and screeches.

“Don't touch my fucking skate you fucking barbarian!”

“You know the word barbarian?” Pierre asks.

Kid throws him an insulted look between hops to avoid Kold, and then skids to a stop behind Natla. “Are we fucking going then?”

“Yes, we're going,” she agrees, surprised and pleased that Kid uses her proximity as a safe place. She dares to put a hand on his shoulder and as he doesn't move away from it, she turns along with him and resolutely walks down the slope. The rest can either catch up to them or be left behind. Well, more like she and Kid would be left ahead… and they shouldn't be separated… Fortunately, a shuffle of feet in the deep snow follow her right away.

 

* * *

 

They arrive to the town below the mountains on the cusp of night, wet and weary but with a new wave of energy filling them as they finally reach civilization.

“We did it,” Diego breathes out, almost in awe of the simple brick and mortar buildings.

“And we only got lost once,” Pierre adds, brushing off his jacket.

“Twice!” Kid hisses as him.

Natla averts her eyes from the modest hotel they are moving towards and shoots him a look. “You and Larson falling into the crevice was your own idiocy. We knew where you were.”

Larson scratches his head, sheepish. His clothes are torn in a few new places and generally worse for wear. “We were just curious...”

Pierre sighs, exasperated but still relieved after the ordeal of saving them from there. “At least Diego came up with the way to get you out.”

Diego looks pleased. “Ah, that was no problem.” He has been given thanks for it several times already. He enjoys each and every one of them.

“It was all Larson's fault though!” Kid needs to stress.

Kold looms over him. “Are you sure? We told you not to stray-”

“Fucking fine! Mostly his fault,” Kid throws up his arms. Then he skips further away and adds: “It was totally your fucking fault when we got lost for real though.”

Kold doesn't chase him, just eyes him, unimpressed. “It was. I chose the wrong way. I can admit my faults, shitstain.”

Pierre and Diego nod in agreement, making eye contact and smiling in camaraderie.

Kid peeks from behind Natla, hands on her shoulders, and stage-whispers to her. “How does he come out on top even when he fucks up?”

“Because he admits his faults?” Natla repeats Kold's words drily.

“Ugh, hope he doesn't want _us_ to do that too,” Kid whispers in an actually low voice, so only Natla hears.

“I know, right?” she answers just as quietly.

They share a commiserating look. Then Kid swivels on his heel, just in front of the doors to the hotel, which he opens and rushes in. The rest follows with varying levels of eagerness. They are going to take it easy for the evening, they deserve it. And tomorrow, they are going home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter takes place in New York City (in place of the cutscene where Lara breaks into Natla's office) so our brave heroes can prepare for the next adventure.
> 
> Please comment! Anything that might be on your mind, any scene or character you liked or disliked, I'd love to hear your thoughts! :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Larson & Pierre in the Lost Valley: Director's Cut](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12690759) by [CrazyPierrsonMan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyPierrsonMan/pseuds/CrazyPierrsonMan)




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